Demon Lust
by theblackwinds
Summary: Its simply the tale of a half demon who encounters something he did not expect, and gains something he never knew he could have. all reviews accepted. Oficially based in Final Fantasy 7 for the first part of this tale. Part 2 Up.
1. The Beginning

Chapter 1 Remake: The beginning

AN: I rewrote the begginning. It sounds better now right? Might rewrite chapter 2. MIGHT.

The heavy boots the white robed man wore kept making a loud thump as he approached another man, tilting on a bar stool, blissfully unaware of the fact that the world exists. The famous mercenary who took just about any job in the world, clad fully in black, enjoying a scotch on the rocks and trying to fake a happy face. The man was known as the "Black Tiger", and his proper name was Kuro Nashuro Vangard.

Kuro was one of the most popular people in the town, and he looked simple enough. A black straw hat, a long robe that was rumored to fend off the harsh cold, yet keep him less than warm in summer, thick leather boots, cotton pants, and a shirt laced with silver rune markings, also rumored to be of magical properities. They were said to enhance his stealth and maneuvering, though it has not been proven because of the two grey cat ears protuding out of his head, along with his tail (but he kept that stuffed in his pants.)

Out of his silver hair was the only visible truth to the rumor of his heritage. He was a cat demon, and his agility and acrobatics, coupled with his incredible magic prowess in both white and black magic, made him insanely versatile. But he was one of the rare few Battlemages in that particular town, and they were always known for their amazing skills with the blade and the magic. Kuro was also a little more than that.

His dual pistols were modified Berettas. They were kept in side holsters, inside his cloak, and they were his best friends. They had a large clip size of 20, incredible accuracy, and the bullets, no matter what quality, could somehow pierce almost anything. He was surrounded by rumors, and this one held the fact that it carried his demon blood in it, and it gave the bullets a supernatural power to do what they do. And whenever they asked, Kuro just shrugged and said "maybe."

He also kept a Winchester riffle in a back holster. The handle was of plain old metal, and the grip was ivory. the barrel, on the other hand, was of the metal mithril. It was also accurate, and the bullets were stronger rather than sharper. Nothing unusual about it, but people say that the gun was just as strong as a 12 gauge shotgun, except this gun could hit a target 100 yards away and send it flying. The way he fired it though, he was surprised nobody made a rumor about it never needing it to be reloaded after each shot.

Last but not least was a rapier. It was silver, but nothing special about it either. It was just a blade, nothing more and nothing less. He swung it very well though, and it was just as valued as his guns. But compared to all his guns, swords, and an amazingly spry body, his most noticed feature was his magic. Nobody ever questioned his magic, because anything was possible. But people respected his; it was a force beyond reckoning.

The man had jet black eyes, and they seemed like black holes, sucking in his surroundings. He approached Kuro, and his ears perked up. "What do you want, stranger? It's been a slow month for jobs. You have one that I might find interesting?" He said, with a hint of hope in his voice. He longed for a good fight, and he'd been restless the night before. The man's face was hidden with a cowl, but he handed Kuro some money, a peice of fabric, and a map with a big red circle on it.

"Smell out the person. Find the person. Kill the person." Kuro looked at the money. It was a modest fee, but not great. "Can you tell me anything else?" Kuro inquired. "Blue eyes, and hair that seems a mix of both dark blue and black." Kuro gave the man an odd look. He was shifty at best, and decided to take this mission with a sense of caution for the target. Something was off from the start, and after finishing his drink, he strolled out of the bar while the man sat down and ordered a drink of his own.

After examining the map, he had to go north toward a clearing of trees...and a cave. "Please not the cave. PLEASE not the cave..." He groaned. With his luck, it'd be the cave. "God damn it." He shrugged his shoulders, cracked his neck, and said nonchalantly, "Eh. It's a living." and slowly walked out of town.

The man in the bar, wore an evil smile behind his cowl.


	2. Unforseen Defeat

Part 2 : Unforseen Defeat

AN- I got around to updating. I kind of had to. I also am going to update any other stories if they need it.

Enjoy Chapter 2 version 2.0.

"Well this was a bust." he murmured, staring at the gloomy cave in front of him. He'd been traveling for hours, and the sun was setting rapidly. He had walked through brush, thick trees, branches that seemed to want to claw his face off...he had had enough. "Argh! If that jerk's not in here, Im going to drink myself into a coma like state." And with a grunt, he pulled out a flashlight and stepped into the dark cave. A bad feeling crept up upon his neck, but he pressed onward, his flashlight soon becoming the only source of light inside the cave.

There were quite a few things in the cave; bats clung to the ceiling, taking a peacefull nap. Water dripping into some unseen lake that didnt exist. Moss that gave the whole cave an earthy smell mixed with a moldy one. It wasn't completely unplesant, nor was it a place he would want to set up a summer home in. His boots made an echo that was starting to creep him out, but he was more worried about waking up the bats. More importantly, he was worried that his target would hear and go deeper into the cave which he was starting to hate even being in. The flashlight shone upon the walls, making the cave even brighter. He eventually caught a new scent, more fresh yet still posessing that earthy smell.

"Bingo," he thought to himself, and his feet suddenly became ten times quieter. An occasional rustle of his clothes and the clack of his pistols were the only noise he emited. He turned off the flashlight, and the cave became a black and white image. Darkvision was a handy thing for anybody to have, but it would not work with light around. He barely had it on for more than five minutes when he came upon a campsite, with a fire roaring brightly and several items lying around. Food packets of various sorts, mostly ones that would last for long periods of time. Ramen, was the one that caught the eyes of Kuro.

The campfire roared loudly. It seemed like there was no one around, but the fire continually made the shadows dance along the walls, and keeping Kuro on edge. The scent was masked by the smoke of the fire, mingled with the smells of the food that had been prepared earlier. "This was a bust," He lamented silently, but he kept his eyes sharp on the darker spots in the large area of the room. He didn't know how- perhaps it was a sixth sense- but he knew that somewhere, someone or something was watching his every move. Growing fustrated, he stamped his foot and yelled, "Come on! This is getting real old!"

It was a good thing he moved his body, for it made him able to move quicker in the small ammount of time he had. After yelling, a clear, melodic voice had yelled out an incantation, and a huge wave of energy flew at him. But since his body was active enough, he slammed himself backwards and down to the ground, only feeling the immense heat from the blast. _About time, _he thought, and his pistols were the first things in his hands when he got back to his feet. The fire wasn't bright enough to illuminate the whole area, which was bigger than he guessed after the blast had lit up the place. This was bad, as his guns held a special clip in each, a stunning dart, and they were his last. He always questioned the people he captured, irregardless of the price of the job or the background.

Twenty-four shots seperated him from resorting to violence. In a move of desperation, he muttered his own little incantation, and a stream of fire flew out and hit the campfire, enlarging it and making the whole enclosure visible. He quickly darted around, scanning every little area he could see. Mere moments later, he spotted who fired the blast. However, even with his honed skills in combat and reflexes, his first thoughts were not to bring up his pistols to fire. They were just questioning thoughts, wondering why in the world he was fighting... "A girl...?" She was up and about as he said it, obviously preparing another spell.

She had black hair, but as the light danced upon it, it seemed to shimmer blue as well. Her eyes were like frost, cold but gentle, and they were as clear a blue as possible. Her clothes were of a blue hue as well, simple robes and a skirt. She had a dagger in a leg sheath, and was unarmed other the fact that her hands had sharp nails. _Sharp __nails! No human has sharp nails. She couldn't be..._ His worst fears were confirmed, just as he caught sight of her tail and ears. They were of no feline heritage, nor wolf. They were of only one kind of animal, and he grimmaced as he thought it. _Of all the humans, no, not humans, not demons, but HALF DEMONS I had to be put up to find, it had __to be a half fox demon._

Any fox demon would tell you the tricks they could conjure up, and you wouldn't believe it. Not untill they had robbed you of all your clothes and possessions, and then you found yourself strangling a straw dummy. They tricked people out of humor, but rarely do fox demons go astray and do their tricks on the innocent out of spite or greed. Though they do have a few black sheep, they were usually mild tempered and sound of logic and mind. But they find humans facinating, and usually do not breed. But whenever a human and a fox demon breed, the offspring retains the ability of trickery and deception, but with a human adaptation backing it, it grew even more powerfull.

_Not my day. Sooooo not my day._

As soon as he found the wits to fire off a dart or two, it went right through the image and dissapeared in a wisp. He paid for his mistake with a blast of cold water from behind, knocking him into a wall. Skill alone would not serve Kuro's purpose here, and he would have to resort to his own forms of trickery to combat this wily vixens abilities. He fired off dart after dart, hoping that one would hit the mark. Sadly, none hit the mark and the aftermath was a mere three shots left in a clip. He quickly holstered the empty pistol, and kept sharp, looking around and continued to hope. But it wasn't long before she used more shadow images, and Kuro fired at each one of them, with a resounding click that almost sounded like a shout to the fox demon, saying "Im out of bullets!".

The vixen, aparently relieved that she could now knock him unconcious, did a dive directly at his back. What she didn't expect was for him to do a flip, moving him over her, and slamming his foot down on her back, causing her to crash into the floor with a boot keeping her pinned. Kuro, glad that she wasn't unconcious and fell for the trap, bent down with his boot firmly keeping her down. "Now that I have your undivided attention, perhaps I can ask you a few questions miss...i'll just call you foxy." He gave a small laugh, but she was far from amused. "Go to hell." She meant that almost literally, and she exploded into a fire that seemed like a dragon had just sneezed on him. But after he had recovered from the heated blast, she was long gone, and kuro was slightly burnt in varied places. With nothing to go on, not even the slightest hint of her scent, he stormed out of the cave, enraged at how easily he was overtaken.

But he came to grips that she was no ordinary half demon. She had high powered magic, the tricks of the fox demon, and the skill to match. It was an even battle, but one he would feel that would sorely wound his pride. He took a breath of fresh air, and stared at the stars. _Long gone, but an interesting challenge. But what exactly is __going on? Why would someone want me to hunt down a half breed, let alone a fox demon? Even with small weapons, they couldn't do that much damage... _The air around him seemed to thicken, but he merely limped back to town, mulling over his thoughts. Something was off, and he was detirmened to find out what. If he was paying attention, however, he would've heard the occasional rustle on the windless night, one that just lurked out of sight.


	3. One Of Those Days

Chapter 3: One of those days...

A resounding clink filled the bar just as he slammed his drink down onto the partly empty bar called "Devils Drink". It was just a short walk

from the town entrance to the bar, and the town itself was small to boot. But it held two bars, an Inn, several shops, and a fair share of homes.

Dashak was a small demon dewlling, one of the key three looming around the vast world. A small majority of demons, half and full, are leaving

the realm to expand into other worlds such as Filgaia and Earth. But Kuro was one of the people who espeically enjoyed the traveling between

worlds, and he kept his home with his original world.

"First time for everything, I always said..." came a happy voice from behind. "No kidding. First time to beat up a friend too, hmm Kit?" Kuros

snide reply came, turning to face his cheery friend. "What gave it away?" His full fox demon buddy shrugged and simply replied, "Your drinking,

your pensive, and your back is burnt. Your also not bloody." A grin formed on his face. "AND, you havent paid back my money which you said

you would give me tonight when you got the target." Kit let out a chuckle and made sure not to touch the burn part of his friend back as he slapped

it hard. Kuro's response was another shot of scotch. "Yea well, lets see you hunt her down."

Kit gave an odd look. "Her...? What do you mean her? You were beaten...by a woman?" He had to fight back a laugh to avoid a slaughter breaking

out. Kuro gave a nod and replied "She was a sorceress. half fox demon. half bitch." He took another shot, and before the bartender could move away

he got another refill. "Well she must be especially skilled in order to take out a pro like yourself. I've seen the stuff you've done, and its not pretty."

Kit let out another chuckle and called the bartender for some a normal mug of ale. "She knew the higher ranks of magic, ones that take almost half a

year to master. she let it fly perfectly..." he winced at the damage he would've taken from the powerfull blast.

As much as he hated to admit it, she was very formidable. He wasnt an all powerfull monster, but he was very skilled. Most fell within a few moments,

rarely did it last long enough to matter. But she, not only escape, but cripple him long enough to do so and vanish without a trace. He snorted and

downed the last shot of scotch for tonight. "Later Kit, I'll finish polishing Light and Dark for you later." He said, referring to Kit's nicknamed katars,

each impowered with their respective elements. "Make them shine like they were brand new." Kit replied, watching Kuro drift out of the bar after

dropping his money for the bartender. He took a sip and quietly said "Better not forget my money...heh."

A gleam of eyes appeared in a small alley for a few moments, following Kuro's movements, and dissapeared.

Kuro has a fairly small house that he plans movements and takes a break in every now and again, as he preferred food from the inn and the comfy beds

they had. But being lazy and not feeling up to the price of a bed for the night, he decided a couch would do tonight. He ambled into the room, half drunk,

and half asleep. He flopped down onto the couch and flipped on the TV. The reporter rambled on about missing children, unusual deaths, and a large

ammount of activity from various monsters. "Glad thats not near here" He yawned sleepily. Before he knew it, he was out like a light.

He awoke, to what he could only describe as both infuriating, deadly, and partly arousing. Rin had broken into his house (actually, the door was unlocked

so it was easy for her) and had a knife to his throat as she straddle him.

"Its just NOT my day..." He thought.


	4. Mutual Agreement

Chapter 4: Mutual Agreement

"Okay...the situation is as thus: im being held at knife point by the same girl you tried to capture. My guns and sword are on the table.

Im virtually unarmed, and am resisting the urges to scream and get aroused. cons aside, if she wanted to kill me, she would've by now.

so what she waiting for?" Was all he could think of. He heard his heart race, his breathing slow, staring into her cold icy blue eyes.

Seconds passed, each seemed like an hour. He could either take this or try to get to the closet. Or, better yet, disarm her.

Again, he heard that same growl. "Im going to be nice about this. Leave. Me. ALONE." she growled, her voice laced with venom.

Kuro fought back anger, and snapped back "Hey your the one following me now miss. I could have kept tracking you. I SHOULD

have kept tracking you. But I did not. And you followed me here. Your holding me down with a knife at my throat. If you were

going to kill me, you would've done so already. Since your not, why dont you drop the damn knife and start explaining some

things to me, okay?"

She stared menacingly, pulled the dagger back, and sheathed it. "You would die before you dove for the door or window. so dont." Kuro just

smiled back and shoved her off. "Okay Lady. Why did a guy hire me to hunt you down?" Her face blanched, but she quickly reverted back

to ice. "A town...was slaughtered. I was one of the rare survivors. You probally met one of the people involved who wanted to finish the job.

Warring demons are trying to claim more land. We're becoming more primal than proper. The fox demons of that particular clan were atacked

by shadow demons." He saw the pain in her eyes, and knew of the shadow demons.

Shadow demons were completely insane and hellbent on murdering, chaos, and destruction. They loved nothing more than to tear things

apart and watch them die. A weakness to light, and barriers around towns kept them at bay. A shudder ran through his spine, as he knew

other demons would want to get into the chaos and profitable wealth they could gain from siding with them. While they were insane, they

were not stupid and gladly accepted help; though sometimes they would kill their help for the hell of it. Satans Hellspawn, he nicknamed

them.

"Well that cleared up a few things..." he thought. She was enraged by the fact that he was allied with such evil demons, trying to finish off

the last of the residence. She assumed he was one of their associates. "I apologize. I dont usually question my clients, but if I had known

what you knew... I would'nt have atacked you. In fact, I would rather help you. This information also explains the recent murders. The

shadow demons are planning something. and its not good."

He gave off a warm smile, the whole "you got your butt whooped by a girl thing" passing away. That, or he was still drunk. She, however,

did not change in mood, and instead sharply replied "Its not your battle. Dont get involved, no one half breed could take off their numbers.

I barely fended off three of them myself. And since I managed to fend you off with minimal difficulty..." she gave an overconfident smirk,

and that opened the old wound again.

Before she could react, Kuro had taken her dagger, dashed behind her, and put the knife to her throat while firmly holding her upper body

with his free arm. "Dont take me for an amateur. I was careless, I came expecting a man of unprecidented talent, I got a vixen with too much

firepower." He snarled, and made sure he got his point across. He roughly shoved her back into the couch, while in the same movement,

shoving the knife back in her sheath.

She gave a surprised look, and it turned into a small grin. "So you really are him. You have quite a reputation; To some, your the Black

Tiger. The rest call you 'Black Breath', no surprise to why." A sad face caught her off guard. "Never wanted a real bad reputation. My

coldness is mistaken for Inhumanity. Im not a bad guy. People just peg me as one." He sighed and drifted over to the fridge. In a pitiful

Attempted, she joked "Well maybe its all the black. Try something new, like red. Or blue." Kuro just shrugged and pulled out half a

large pepperoni pizza, along with two beers. "Hungry? Nobody can talk on an empty stomach."

For the next half hour, she talked about most of her what her family did for a living, and how her father was a strong fox demon and

her mother was an excellent human chef. They had made an allegiance to many others, even a few in other worlds. She blanched

again as she said how she thought the Shadow Demons percieved them as a threat to power and decided to eliminate the whole

town. She got smug again, and said how she had made a secret tunnel in situations like that and saved a few of her friends. But,

to her dismay, her father was killed as he was one of the town guards. Her mother, on the other hand, had left years before to find

her fortune out in the real world.

She explained more about how her father had taught her to defend herself, to use the powerfull black magics to kill anything that

would stand before her. She learned fast, gained the powers most take years to learn in mere months. It was like she was born

to become a powerfull sorceress, meant to use it for a reason.

Kuro was silent. He felt pity, and having a fox as a buddy too, all this really did bother him. Even if kit was a jerk in a nice way.

He decided to deal with minor annoyances first. He looked up and said "So...whats your name lady? or shall I call you vixen

for the time being?" She laughed softly and said "Its Rin. Not Rinny, or anything like that. Just simple Rin." He chuckled and

replied "Your too cute to be simple you know."

Rin frowned. "Most people dont think of me as cute. Some dont like the fact that I can use the powerfull spells people use.

This leads to many people hating me and calling me ugly..." she fell silent. Kuro was too stubborn to let the topic die out

as fast as that. "Well cheer up, there are plenty of other people out there. Most of them more sensible." He let out a grin,

and almost instantly, became serious.

"So...what are your plans, Rin?" He inquired, though he knew that he would, inevitably, get involved and his guns would blaze

and his sword would be stained crimson red.

R/R. Next update is soon. Shadow Demons are loosely based on the ones used in Medevil. Just more demonic than stupid

looking.


	5. Does this make my butt look big?

Chapter 5 : "Does this make my butt look fat?"

Rin awoke to a brightly lit room. It was dawn, and there was a note taped to the couch which she slept on. She yawned sleepily, and read the note to herself. "I went into town to buy food and such. I left when the sun had just fully risen. I assume it should be a few minutes after you get up since it looked like you slept well as I left. It shouldnt take me long to get back. In the meantime, freshen up and make yourself at home. Just dont expect there much to do other than shower up, watch some TV, and have whatever is left in the fridge (2 slices of pizza, some peanut butter and jelly, some slices of bread, a couple cans of beers, and...for whatever reason, the last pop tart package). Kuro".

Rin sat up and scratched her head. "Well I guess ill get in a nice long hot shower, since its on the house." She hopped off the couch, stretched, and slowly drifted off to the shower (which the door had a note atached to it with bold letters saying SHOWER). Immediately she noticed, there was no towel to be seen. With a simple shrug, she just assumed that Kuro would be gone long enough for her to shake off the shower water. She undressed, and quickly got into the shower. So far she had been camping outside, and she really both wanted and needed this.

Kuro, on the other hand, was drifting along shops with a few bags in his hands. "A couple boxes of pop tarts, 24 pack of beer, sandwich meats, a few cans of pasta, ground beef, dried noodles, ramen , marinara sauce, some milk, a carton of juice...what else?" he thought. Going into another shop, he grabbed what he sorely needed: a bottle of asprin. His hangover was breaking his train of thought, and promptly ate a few pills after paying for them. "Much better! now what else..."

It just hit Kuro as he stood outside a dress shop: Rin was homeless, and quite likely didnt have much to wear other than whats on her. Again, a sympathetic Kuro counted up his money, and with a sigh that usually meant he was going to regret this, stepped into the shop and began a quick browsing, trying his best to judge what would fit her.

"Uh...clerk?" He talked to a light skinned girl, probally no older than 16. "I need something that would accentuate Ice blue eyes and sleek black hair." She cocked her head and pointed to an aisle near the back. "Nice clothes in that aisle. try it." With a bow, Kuro moved over to the aisle and looked over them. After a few minutes, he picked up an ice blue robe that was much more nicer than her old worn robes. He also grabbed something more casual, a black skirt and top. Kuro dropped them onto the counter, and looked through his wallet.

The girl smiled. "Excellent choices. That'll be 21 dollars and 50 cents." Kuro groaned, but paid up. gathering them into another bag and drifting out of the store, he began for home. "Food, clothes...man I so want something out of this, sooner or later...Im nearly broke!" he yelled mentally, and shoved his way through the small crowds.

He opened the door which he left unlocked (go figure), and promptly shoved the stuff into the fridge. He layed out the clothes on the top of the couch, and didn't really notice untill now...that they were incredibly nice and almost shimmered. The material was very smooth, and was nice to the touch. "That was less than 22 bucks? Wow, that really was an excellent set of choices!" he gloated, and relaxed on the couch.

Then he realized, Rin was gone. "Where did she go off to?" he thought. He didn't wait long. Just as his thoughts stopped, Rin had stepped out of the bathroom, completely nude. She really didn't want a mess to be made out of the nice bathroom, and thought it to be rude of her as she was so graciously allowed to stay after what she had done. It took her a full five seconds to realize, Kuro had snapped his neck around, and was blushing tremendously at her incredibly slim yet muscular body.

But that of course was an understatement compared to her breasts.

The moment she noticed...3 things happend. Kuro had begun to nosebleed, and when he realized that, she had let out a shriek that would almost break glass! Then, he suddenly realized he had flown off the couch from a tremendous slap into a wall. The asprin was still working, so he let this slide and pointed to the cabinet in a hallway to her right. "Tow...OW...els..." he coughed, and she turned around to see another note with the bold word TOWELS on it. "Oops... how'd I miss that?" She said, just now realizing what he had done before that.

After a few heartfelt apologies, incredible thanking for the beautiful clothes, some bloody rags, and 3 more asprins later, Kuro had concocted a breakfast of the pizza, some pop tarts, two sandwiches, and a glass of juice each. They were once again merry (for the most part, as Kuro's head still throbbed even with the asprin), and they were discussing ways of taking out the demons far away.

But how cut short would that laughter have been, when Vulshar, king of the shadow demons, had learned only moments ago that not only that one had escaped from the town they leveled, but the bounty hunter had failed to kill her! And Vulshar, who has slain countless enemies, from humans to demons, to dragons themselves, would never let them live this down. Him and his countless army of demons would see to that.

Read and Review. Chapter Six will be up soon.


	6. maybe its fate

Chapter 6: Maybe its fate...

Kuro kicked back with his laptop displaying various programs that most local people dont have access to. They were

meant to track down people going in hiding, or not on anybody's list. Mercenaries usually pay big money to get their

hands on such technology, but he had contacts. One specific person who has dark pink hair and likes to be called

"little" for one reason or another. He never knew why, most people hate being called short.

A list of names came up, and Kuro's keen eyes went to work. "No, no, no no, maybe, never, too stupid, no no no..."

He muttered to himself as the names kept moving. "AHA!" He exclaimed, and Rin stirred on the couch. He mentally

kicked himself, and the list had stopped on another name. He knew this guy was one of the best people he could

call on for this situation, and he was second on his trust list. Kit was first, and most of his "associates" were more

secluded and neutral at best.

He was called Hikari, but his more common name was Light. No one really knew his real name, for he forgot it himself

and never cared. He's usually nice, but serious as hell when it comes to buisness or otherwise. He's one of the odder

people Kuro knew of, and he's not even human, demon, or any race people know of. It's not even really classified as

a race.

His body is like an Elemental: part human form, part elemental. But he looks human rather than a form of light walking

around, and nobody, not even Kuro, has been able to discern why he's here or how he came to be in the first place.

All Kuro knows, is that he can swing a longsword better than anyone else, and has some incredible power in him.

It doesnt take a genuis to figure out why he's the man for this job.

Rin rolled over, a dreamy look on her face. Kuro didn't really understand why she warmed up so fast to him, but

he knew why he did. But he didn't want to think about it. He closed the laptop and drifted over to the backroom.

He stepped inside, and immediately grabbed the catclaw katars that he had to give back to Kit today.

He crept slowly outside into the brightly lit street, and for a change of pace, locking the door behind him. He

didn't like the events of the demons brewing about, and decided she'd have a chance to react if the door was

busted down instead of opened quietly. He took a left past a closed weapon shop and came across a building

painted bright red.

"Kit needs a new color for his damn house." He growled, and slipped in the two claws through a mail slot. He

also slipped in a note wanting the payment, minus the money he owed. He got back to his house, still wondering

if he would have enough money to make the whole trip needed. He also had work to do for his guns; bullets do

no damage to a shadow demon, let alone regular ones. Holy enchanted, they do decently enough to fend them

off.

He opened the door, only to see a pair of blue eyes staring at him, illuminated by the streetlight. "It's late. you

should be resting." She only cocked her head and replied "well, being restless does that. a question has been

bothering me...and something I want to know. Why are you helping me? Why fight for a stranger off the street?

Mercenaries are loners, not used to having alot of friends or being known for their kindness to everybody. So,

whats your gain out of this?"

Caught off guard by the question he knew she would eventually ask, he took up a leaning position against the

wall. "I dont wanna talk about it Rin. Not now. and how did you know I was a mercenary?" He inquired. She

called him a bounty hunter, not a mercenary. "You have a friend and a list of contacts. Bounty hunters are

usually soloists who have one contact with the inside info. I took a good guess." Kuro was silent again.

"Well, how did you know I had a friend?" She smirked. "I saw him in the bar when I spied on you a day

ago. He's cute, even if he looks a little dense ya know." Kuro chuckled, and hoped that the topic had

been adverted. But, to his dismay, she wasnt going to let the topic drop with it gnawing at the back

of her mind.

"Well? Lets have it. I want an explanation, or I'll get one out of you sooner or later." His response was

a sigh. "Do you really want to know?" he asked. She quickly nodded, and another sigh escaped his

lips. "Man, it's already been that long...seems fresh in my mind. Never really wanted to talk about it

again, but if your going to be a hard ass about it, fine."

"Ten years ago, I was just a kid with a simple life with a demon dad and a human mom, who met when he

when he was atacked on the road. They grew to love eachother, and eventually I was their result.

Life was good; the town prospered, the crops grew well, and buisness boomed. It was never too

hot, never too cold...it was an ideal place to live...was."

"One day, a group of people came into the town. They had some wounded, and we gladly helped

them to the best of our abilities. They were treasure hunters, people who plundered places and

took whatever they found and used them to their own gain. However, we never questioned what

they had done, or how they had wounded. We just blindly helped them out. That was the towns

downfall..."

"We were atacked by a large group of at least a 1000 shadow demons. More like an army, they

were well prepared and well equipped. Caught off guard, the best we could do was flee...but

nobody got away, they were blasted down or had their souls stolen. One by one, the

townspeople fell. It was like being surrounded by screams...fire, death, carnage...unspeakable

horror..."

"My dad defended the small band of people left. He slayed many a shadow demon that day,

and fought valiantly. Though...he fell too. When they finally reached my home, they used my

moms corpse to kill me. They slammed her into me, and heard bone shatter several times. After

seeing me drenched in a mix of my own blood and my mothers, they left me to die."

"On a stroke of luck, my mothers body kept the fires from turning me into ash. My body wouldn't

move. I thought I was going to die. My mind screamed at me. But someone who was coming to the

town came soon after they finished plundering the town. By chance, he was a man who came from

the school of healing; a white mage. He wasn't a great one, but he fixed me up enough to save me."

"I was eternally grateful. The guy raised me, took care of me, and made me feel better, though I

would always feel the pain of that day. About 5 years before, he taught me of how to travel to

and from worlds in other places. During that time, I was 16; old enough to race chocobo. I

made a name for myself in the racing buisness for a while, winning and losing, but earning

cash."

"Eventually, I saved up enough to get a place in this nice town. I used this house as a home

for a while, but eventually wanderlust came to me, and I sought out the magical arts out. I

learned the black arts, and the white out of respect for the man who saved me. I also took

up summoning arts, but only a few spells. My demon skills are my greatest asset, since

I can move rather well and jump really high from feline agility."

"It landed me a job in a group called AVALANCHE. They needed my help, and I

took on a mission or two. I never accepted that bombing mission they offered, even

if the pay was good. It got me wondering: what if i could become a mercenary? It was

a well paying job...I could gain allies, and some contacts. Basically, everything I would

need for taking on the bastards who slaughtered my kin and neighbors."

"And there you have it, Rin. I'm helping you so this will never happen again, to anyone.

I have sympathy for you, and if they are going to keep this up, someone is going to have

to do SOMETHING..." He shrugged. "Might as well be me." She spoke after a small silence.

"One last question...why has your attitude changed? You were more hostile back in the

cave."

To her amazement, he smiled in this gloomy situation. "Because I sensed something

was wrong and I didn't want to kill you unless I fully knew. I dont put mercy on targets

or things I have to do if they're in cold blood. So I spared you, and here we are! Slowly

becoming more friendly to one another." He laughed, and gave off a warm smile.

"Now you should rest up. Your coming with me to an old friend." He walked into

the back and went into his room. Yawning sleepily, she slowly went back to sleep.


	7. We're not lost, we're adventuring

Chapter 7: We're not lost. We're ADVENTURING!

It was supposed to be a simple job. It turned out to be anything but simple. His mind reeled time and again, reviewing that situation, hoping that it would go away. But it would not. It was here to stay. An innocent victim of an atack can weigh heavily on the heart of anyone, even the coldest of assassins.

She had been killed. A kid. The target was a total coward, using her as a human shield. And he botched his shot and missed. And hit her. It was a mortal wound, and it pained him daily. He made sure the man didn't get away with his life. But the fresh image of a girl, sprawled out in front of him, bleeding and dying, would never go away.

He consoled her to her dying breath. He didnt know the girl. He never knew of her past, her life, her love. But for any unknown reason he had, a single tear was shed.

The sun woke him from his nightmare; that and his partially loud scream. Covered in sweat, he quickly wiped his face and rid it of any anguish it had on it. It was ages ago, but her face contorted in pain and anguish would seemingly stay with him, a scar on his mind. And it was the second time he thought that the emotional pain it brought would drive him to death.

Pull the trigger. End the pain. Simple as that. But he knew deep down he would have forsaken the man who not only took him in, but healed and raised him. But to honor the mistake, he gashed his left palm. The scar kept him from straying to dark thoughts, or betraying the bits of good left in him.

He gently smoothed out his hair and slowly assumed a sitting position on the side of the bed. His clothes were on the dresser, and he was only in a pair of boxers and a light t-shirt. Kuro let out a large yawn, and practically dragged himself out to the living room.

Rin was still snoring contendedly. "Guess she didn't hear the yelp." he thought, and in a more quiet demeanor, slipped into the shower room. A hasty undressing, and he welcomed the hot blasts of water relaxing every muscle in his body, as if it were washing away all his sorrow and anger.

The torso was scarred, as well as his arms and parts of his legs. The price of survival, he called them. They were all healed, and none of them hurt anymore. It also nagged at him constantly of why he kept at such a dangerous line of work, as he could easily become the best chocobo jockey ever. Or easily various other occupations.

Maybe it was something to prove. Maybe he had nothing to lose. "Nothin to lose..." He muttered, and it hit him. Kit was the only guy who knew he still existed, and they were like brothers (despite Kuro's malcontent to his twenty-four seven cheery mood). Rin's nice, but did she care for him much? Let alone feel sorrow for him if he should die?

He shook his head and sent water flying. "Better not to focus on this and rather the task at hand. So the shadow demons are back in action, destroying towns again. If nobody does anything, problems are coming. Any ideas genius?" Kuro smacked his head against the tile in hopes that it would bring up any sort of plan that wasn't suicidal.

"Full on assault is pathetic and a waste of time. The shadow demons are too sly to be fooled. Stealth is a weak option as it stands. Maybe an aerial assault...?" no matter what idea he came up with, they all seemed pathetic. Maybe with a larger group, but with only three, maybe four people? Thats right out insane!

He turned the taps off, and stepped out of the shower. He softly said the incantation for a fireball, and made it hit himself with it. While it wasn't powerfull enough to damage him in any way, it did dry him off quite well. After pulling up his boxers and throwing his shirt back on, he went back into his room and dug around for clothes to suit this trip.

Dismally, he could only scounge up a pair of worn boots, a wind torn brown cloak, and a pair of jeans. "Greeeat." Kuro managed to find a thicker shirt and tossed his off. Slipping all of them on, he decided that a breakfast would be the best thing to start this trip. "Well, I suppose thats enough rest for her." He once again walked down the hallway, boots making a loud thud with each step.

"Oh, so your ready too huh?" Was her cheerful remark when Kuro noticed her fully dressed and rested. "My shower woke you?" he asked. "Nah, but your muttering did. Oh and that headslam. Bet that one left a dent! Might give you some sense back." She replied in an almost sarcastic tone. But if it was, the cheery tone of her voice masked it.

He stared blankly, becoming pensive again. "Maybe..." he thought. A quick shake of the head made Rin give him an odd look. "You ok? Your acting normal." she smirked. Kuro just gave her a blank look and quickly said "Hungry?"

* * *

The Devils Drink wasn't exactly meant for food, it was meant to get your ass drunk as hell. But they did serve up a fairly decent ammount of breakfast, lunch, and dinner food. Kuro absent-mindedly poked his eggs and Rin finally noticed. "Your thinking of something thats clawing away at your concience. If you let it get to you, it'll win. Take it easy, and live in the now."

Kuro looked up into her smiling face. Sincerity was a rarity among anyone around here. He let out a smile, and replied "Yea...your right. I've got bigger matters to worry about, and the past is on the lower part of my problems right now." He mentally thanked her for easing the pain. He kicked back and finally started to gorge himself on the plate filled with food.

"S'up bud!" Came a loud voice from behind, and almost made Kuro cough up the food he stuffed into his mouth.

"Oh. I take it your the half vixen, half bitch person he talked about!" Kit said when he noticed rin. "Not many vixens around here...none as cute, mind you." Rin giggled. Kuro unknowingly just threw his gun barrels in Kit's face. "Oh, wanna spar?"

Rin couldn't imagine that he could move this fast, nor Kit. He never moved the barrels, only his face: He slammed the bullets aside as they came out with his catclaw katars, and they went into the walls. But as fast as that happend, Kuro spun around and slamed the side of his gun aimed at Kit's face...into a waiting katar. He did a flip to dodge his free katar which was aimed at his stomach, and used Kit's head like a spring board and his claws to atach into the Ceiling.

This all happend in a mere moment, and they both wore a smile. Kuro flung himself downard and spinning, while both guns were firing madly at Kit. But all he did was spin around and all the bullets missed. Kuro flung himself back away from Kit with one hand, slid backward, and grinned. "Still as spry as ever huh?" Kit merely chuckled and replied, "Well your not losing your touch anytime soon."

Only 4 seconds had passed when they did all this, and Rin missed almost all of it when she blinked. "HOLY HELL!" She screamed in amazement. "What? You expect someone such as myself not to be agile and such?" Kuro cooly replied. He knew she didn't know all of his tricks, and was getting an ego boost from this; that and a bit of revenge for his bruised body. Those earth spells hurt!

"That wasn't anything. You should see us when we're in a caffinated state and got a speed boost from hasteaga!" chimed in Kit, who had seen the effects...if you can call it seeing. It was more like a series of blurs and flashes from the blade as Kuro demonstrated how fast he could go and how hard he could hit at those speeds. Kit had the mix of both, and he was barely visible!

"I'll...take your words for it..." she chuckled nervously, and made it a note not to mess with Kuro when he's fully aware and ready for a fight. Kuro ejected his clips and one had a single bullet left, but the other was dry. "Peachy. Waste of bullets. Man, I am so taking that girl up on her offer of that one prototype gun that has limitless bullets." he sighed, and pulled out a large bulky satchel from behind him. Opening it up, rin saw a huge ammount of 9mm bullets and lots of shotgun shells. He hastily slid the bullets untill the clips were full, and just to re-demonstrate his speed, slammed them into his guns, gave them a few good spins, and holstered them in the blink of an eye.

"Well I still have plenty of bullets to go through. Gonna need them too. Kit, prepare for a fight in the upcoming future. I may not fully know what is going to happen to this place, but if the news reports are true, then there will be trouble here and not of the small variety. Sharpen those catclaws, get anything thats holy enchanted, hell just get holy water itself while your at it. Forget about Dark, he wont do any good for these foes. Alert the armed forces here to keep sharp. Meanwhile, me and Rin will pay a visit to an old friend. If he can get old, anyhow..." He mused.

He turned his gaze to Rin. "Up for the trip?" He asked. Rin gave an uncomfortable shift, and replied, "Well...I dont know. where in the world is this guy? I wanna fully know where the hell we're going beforehand. Otherwise im camping it here." She took a defiant pose, and Kuro just shrugged.

"He's not in this world. He's taken refuge on the world only referred to as "The Planet". I hear it's never been the same since Mako was taken off the market just after Meteor was blown away. He's taken a fancy to hiding himself all around the world, but he spends his time in Cosmo Canyon. Otherwise he's got a place stashed out in the sands by the Golden Saucer. Aparently, hes also taken a fancy to gambling. Just dont enrage him; he's got some nasty atacks."

* * *

And with a gulp, Rin reluctantly found herself traveling inside a train built for trips to and from worlds. "Why meee..." She moaned. 


	8. All is not calm in Kalm

Chapter 8 : All is not calm in Kalm

Rin stared gloomily out into the black void which the train passed through to get to the other worlds. It was kinda unsetteling to know that the difference between life and death was some steel and wood below her. She drummed her fingers, and was in a bored mood since the conductor announced it would take another hour before the train would reach the next platform, where she and Kuro where heading to.

Having no idea what Kuro meant by "stuff he had to do", she patiently sat in the chair and did miniscule things to busy herself. The first ten minutes she braided her hair, but that got boring real fast. The T.V. hanging up in the corner of the room had nothing on, and no movies to play in it. She then played some solitare with a deck of complimentary cards. Now, she just stared into the bleak darkness, wondering when Kuro would finally come back.

About 10 more minutes later, the door slid open and the card house she had started construction on fell with a clatter. "It's about time! Do you have any idea how boring it's been? There's nothing to do! And that was hard to make!" She whined. Kuro shrugged and dumped a few movies on her lap, along with the provided lunch of roast chicken, some buns, and a bottle of coke. He also dropped a crossword puzzle on his seat. "Nothing to do, eh?" He replied, and began work on a crossword puzzle involving fictional characters.

"Didn't know what you liked, so I went with chicken. Didn't know what you liked to watch, so I got a comedy, an action flick, and some mushy drama thing. The Three Amigos, The Matrix, and Titanic, respectively." He went back to his crossword puzzle, filling in a 3 letter word for, ironically, "The One", who was obviously Neo from The Matrix. Rin put The Three Amigos in, and quietly ate the chicken.

It wasnt long till she noticed something silver and shining behind his back. "Whats that?" Rin Said as she cocked her head to try to get a better look at it. "Ah, it's one of my favorite guns. A Winchester, customized so that it can fire both 9mm rounds or 12 Gauge shotgun shells, after switching out the reloading mechanism of course." He spun it out with such a quick movement she hardly belived that he actually had done it.

"Its been modified alot. The barrel is heavier, as to add stability to my shots. Theres also a grip on the barrel to further that. Moreover, the clip size has been uped to a nice 15 for the 9mm or 10 for the shells. The reloading part is well lubricated to add speed to my shots. I could pump 10 rounds out in a heartbeat should I try to. Personally the kickback is tough." He patted the top part of the stock and quickly holstered it on his back. "Customizing my guns is pretty fun. Who knew you could do so much to them?" He chuckled, and went back to the crossword puzzles.

Rin just peered back into the darkness. "So...Hikari is an old buddy of yours?" She inquired, not liking the silence anymore and wanting to keep the conversation going. "Hm? Well, he's like an old buddy in arms I suppose. That guy can seriously cover someone. He'd be a great help to us for whats going on. IF he'll help is my concern..." Kuro shook his head and sighed. "To make a huge story very short, he worked for a special unit in the millitary, he got his platoon killed, you know what that does to you. I'll tell you the longer story when I get the chance. About 10 more minutes till we reach our stop. Untill then, im taking a snooze." He shifted and closed his eyes.

* * *

"AGH!" was all rin could say when the wind smacked her with a blast of sand. They were out in the middle of nowhere, and towns weren't nearby.

"Ow...Where the hell are we?" She demanded. "We're nearby a town once called Midgar.Its been wiped out, and turned into a desolate wasteland (as if it wasnt one already). We're quite a while away from Hikari; we're gonna need both a boat and something of mine." He responded. "Something...of yours?" Rin didn't like the strangely happy tune in his voice, and she wasn't going to like how this day ended.

Kuro pointed north. "Theres the town of Kalm. It's a nice little town, and I have a storage area set up there. Kind of a long walk, but we'll manage." He made a hand motion for her to follow as he started toward Kalm. "Oh, and keep your eyes peeled. It's not exactly safe around here." He pulled out his pistols and took the safteys off. Rin just gulped and pulled out a small scepter with a bright blue orb on the top. She looked behind her to see the safe train speeding off toward other stops and to other worlds.

After about a mile, a huge hulking robot jumped in front of them off a cliffside."BEEP...UNAUTHORIZED NON-SHINRA PERSONELL. TERMINATE." The dual machine gun arms clicked in response. Rin yelped and blasted a huge lightning bolt at it, and it promptly exploded after that. But Kuro was in the way, and needless to say, he was out cold on the ground, and lightly toasted.

Lucky for Kuro, he kept his asprin on him to get rid of his splitting headache, and Rin had a few tricks with curative spells. "ow...okay new rule. Whenever you think it's a good idea to blast something thats really freaking close to me with a high powered spell, you are to slap yourself upside the head for being THAT stupid." He snarled. Rin glared back, but she felt bad for doing that deep down. "Okay fine, im sorry, sheesh! I'll make it up to you, I promise." She threw him an innocent look, but he just gave another snarl and stormed off toward Kalm again.

"Well if you keep hitting me like that, you'll damage my tracker." Kuro yanked back his sleeve which displayed an arm bangle, with an screen displaying a map of the area. It was blurry at best, for the sandstorm was disrupting the signal. "Wouldn't surprised me if it wasnt like this out of being banged up cause of you..." He hung his head and sighed. It could've been worse, he knew. She was more dense and carefree than serious, and his sixth sense told him that she hid something. It was how she acted...he did it the same way. Focus on other peoples problems.

He remembered helping out his guardian cleric, how he helped categorize all his holy tomes, polished his studded mace, and made his house as tidy as possible. No matter how much David said that he could handle most of it, Kuro would not hear of it and kept cleaning for months to come. Eventually, David showed his grattitude by teaching Kuro a thing or two about his clergy, and their activities. He tried his hand at being a cleric for a short time, but he failed to properly use a mace. So he cherished the pitifull ammounts of healing he learned, and thats when Kuro learned how to ride a chocobo.

Kuro snapped out of his memories and jammed his sword behind him, impaling another machine. "I thought they would be disabled. If not that, the sandstorm should have taken out their ability to detect people. Someone is doing something around here...but thats not our problem. Not today." He sliced upward, destroying the robot CPU core. "We've got a bigger problem, and if I had to guess, Hikari might be doing something to counter this particular problem." He glanced around to make sure nothing was about, and Rin had finished off another machine with an intense fireball blast.

After a blink, he quietly swore to himself. "Rin...dont panic...but...we're kinda...um...surrounded." His tracker displayed at least 20 of the mechanical bastards around, and Kuro was just about sick of this. "GET DOWN!" He commanded Rin, and she ducked. Kuro flung a dagger into another one that was just about to tear Rin apart, and then fired two well placed 9mm rounds into the core of another bot. Another two were upon him, but he hopped onto his hands and used his feet to knock them off balance, at which point he flipped upward and shot them both with one bullet each.

A few more spells flew from Rin, melting three more and frying the circuts of two. Kuro pulled out his Winchester and immediately started firing with precision and speed that would make anyone jealous of his skill. Ten robots fell to the onslaught of the modified gun, but there was still one more standing. "FIRE." Even as the robot said it, Kuro and Rin were zig-zagging around the barren area to get behind a boulder. The bullets slammed into the rock, but did little more than scratch it. "Fire this, you mechanical asshole." He flung a grenade right at the face of the robot, which promptly became nothing more than a pile of scrap metal.

He took a quick look at Rin, and saw a cut on her right arm. "Here...let me bandage that up..." She pulled away and shook her head. "I can just use healing magic, you know." Kuro quickly retorted, "Thats not the point. you used up a bit of magic, and we need that for other reasons as I doubt this was the last we'll see of these clanking idiots." he bent down and applied a bit of ointment, which caused her to grimace in pain. He then tied a peice of cloth around her arm, and then gave the area a quick look. "Nothing is moving. Might have been the last of them. Never know, so keep your eyes peeled and such."

Kuro stealthily moved around the rock, and his tracker was coming up with only Rin on it. "Clear. Come on, we've wasted enough time." He trudged onward through the dying storm, toward the slowly enlarging town of Kalm. Rin gave a shriek and said "Whats happening to the town?" Kuro quickly looked at the town to see what rin was screaming at, and once again swore quietly.

Kalm was both under fire and on fire.


	9. Old Familiar Faces

Chapter 9 : Old Familiar Faces

Kuro lay flat on the ground next to Rin just a few hundred meters away. "I see them," He said as he was looking through some binoculars, "and they're using ice to put out the fires. They're still under atack, and if we dont move in, they may get outnumbered and lose this battle." A resounding click and his winchester was ready for another mow down. "Lets move."

They were running for the town at full speed, while Kuro blasted any robot that got close. Rin conserved her spells and only fired weak ones that did just enough to disable them. "Almost there!" he said, but just as they got near the entrance to the town, 3 huge robots came crashing down in front of them. "Guard scorpions...damn it all!" screamed Kuro, and he fired his remaining 6 rounds in the dead center of one of them.

DINK. DINK. DINK. DINK. DINK. DINK. The armor wasn't even scratched. "Oh hell. Rin, those conserved spells I told you about? now would be a very good time to...you know...USE EM!" She was shoved aside just as a blue laser blasted the spot where she stood. Rin let loose with a powerfull bolt of lightning that struck one of the guard scorpions offline. But she was too exhausted to fire anymore of them, and after trying several weaker lightning spells that had no effect, she stuck to running.

Kuro was too busy fending off one with his rapier, atacking every spot with a thrust that he thought might've been a weakspot, to notice Rin's fleeing. Each thrust seemed more futile than the last, only making a dull clang and not scratcing them at all. "Modified armor. Who did this?" He wondered, and out ofdumb luck, he found a weakspot in the cooling vents on the guard scorpions back.

He jammed his rapierviolently into it, and eventually cut the power cords. He hopped down and ran to Rin. "Hey stop running around for a sec--RIN!" He was cut off as he did a dive in front of Rin, taking the blast of a tail laser. "This is getting real old real fast..." he thought before he hit the ground hard. The guard scorpion didn't waste any time, and line up another shot directly at them. "HEY TIN CAN! PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" Yelled someone on a roof.

"Well look who it is. Incredible timing..." Kuro grunted as he saw Cid Highwind jumped down and threw a bunch of dynamite into the cooling vent of the last guard scorpion. Needless to say, it was wasted better than the other two. "Well look who it is! I was wondering when you were gonna show up. How are ya, you crazy bitch?" Cid lit a ciggerate and began smoking it. With a groan, Kuro got to his feet and retorted, "Well I've been getting blasted more often than usual. Beats chasing down cowards in hiding though. Who's left in the town, you chain smoking sumbitch?"

Cid sighed and said "We've been losing people since the first battle. This is the fourth one. Lucky for us, you took care of two of our biggest threats while you distracted the one taken out by yours truly. Tifa is in the town too; went fighting with a burnt shoulder. She was real pissed off that her bar was banged up. Vincent is oddly enough along for the ride, and Barrett too. Marlene was taken to the Chocobo Farm after the first battle, and other than that, we've only lost about ten people. Unfortunately, Vincent ran out of shotgun bullets today, and I hope you got some."

Kuro shook a whole bagfull of extra shells. "Plenty." Cid chuckled and said "Cute girl. Is she...?" "No, not really. more of a nuisance than that. Dont change the subject anyhow, whats left in the town?" Kuro Inquired, but was cut off as 5 loud gunshots followed by a "KYA!" and loud clanks were emited from the town. "If I had to guess...none. I wasn't kidding about the pissed off part." He threw his ciggerate to the ground and stomped on it.

With a little help, Cid, Rin, and Kuro (who was being supported by rin) all made it into the town and saw Tifa smacking the disabled robots out of it. "Hey there Kuro! Sorry you came to town at such a bad time; You can have a drink on the house for preventing those GS's from getting into the town. That is, if you can find any..." Tifa smiled warmly, though hated the fact that since her bar was "out of order", that she couldn't charge one of her best customers.

And with that, she happily went back to kicking. Vincent was on a roof, and very unlike him, gave a nod toward them. He had taken up a sniping position, and was watching the area around the town to make sure none either escaped or tried to get backed in. Kuro limped into the bar and to another strokeof luck, salvaged a nice bottle of scotch and a glass. After downing a few cups of the brown liquid, he turned to Cid.

"My garage. Is it fine?" Cid laughed and said, "Well of course it is! With us around, you'd expect the town to be a pile of rubble? Come on! Your senses must've been blasted just as much as your body. Speaking of which..." His hands glowed a pale blue, and Kuro's pain numbed to a small ache. "Better than nothing, I guess." He took another ciggerate out. "There are worsehealing materiathan that. The liqour is helping at any rate."

"Now...explain to me why Shinra's custom sweepers have been reactivated, and how the Guard scorpions have enhanced armor?" Cid gave him a blank look. "Your guess, is as good as mine. You'd think after the Shinra building was nuked from Meteor and after that huge Diamond Weapon blasted the hell out of it, that all the robots would be offline or deactivated. If you have any ideas, i'd like to hear em man."

Kuro leaned against the bar, deep in thought. "Hrm. Did they ever find Rufus?" Cid gave him an odd look now. "Er, now that you mention it, after those two things had happend, someone would've searched the building. So i'd have to say no, his body was never recovered or it was blown up real good. You dont think..." Kuro nodded. "It's possible. How would you like it if you had your company blown to bits or you failed to achieve total greatness? Personally, i'd be fuckin pissed off beyond all reckoning."

Cid took another drag on his ciggerate. "Gotta hand it to him if he is. Well at least it isnt Sephiroth. Lets go back outside and see if Tifa needs anything." Kuro shrugged and Rin, who was sitting quietly trying to peice together bits of information, followed them as they exited the bar to check on Tifa.

"Problem? No, no problem. You and Cid saw to that!" She chuckled. Cid told Tifa about the current situation that may just be true. Tifa went wide eyed and said, "Well...It wouldn't surprise me. But with you here, and Barrett soon to be back, we'd fend them off even better than before. We can handle em." Kuro looked at her helplessly and replied, "Well...I can't be here. I have my own problems to deal with, and im sure you, Barrett, Cid, and Vincent up there can take on whatever problems you have."

"On another subject, where is the big guy?" Tifa looked away. "The chocobo farm was atacked. Barrett is defending it, and the farmer and his boy are helping as best as they can. Are you sure you can't stay a few days?" She looked sadly at him. "Tifa, you know as well as I do that if they came around, i'd gladly help out the sensei!" He spun out his guns and pointed them at Tifa's face. "You'd know what I would do to them. But I cannot sta--" Kuro was cut short as a huge blade came down between him and Tifa.

"TIFA GET BACK!" Yelled the spikey haired man. Kuro just gave him a swift kick to the face and he went flying away from his sword into some crates.. "Hrm. Friend?" came Kuro's cool response to Tifa, as he holstered his guns. "Husband. His names Cloud. I dont think you could've dented him with his thick skull and all the gel he puts in it." A fit of sniggers erupted from Rin and Cid just laughed aloud. Even Vincent, who had been listening to them, gave a smirk.

"Well...Cloud," he said as he yanked him out of the crate, "I wholly apologize for that...even if YOU started that." He gave Cloud back the heavy Buster Sword, in which he hastily took back and scowled at Kuro. "Whatever...just dont point your guns at my wife." Kuro just shrugged and mockingly shot back, "Well if I wanted to shoot my teach, then there would be one less cute violent woman in the world. Though she's probably more capable than she appears to be." He threw a wink to Tifa, who smiled and responded, "Well thank you. Though I'd say I have enough trouble not impaling myself on his spikey hair at night." Everyone (but Cloud, who snarled) went into a fit of laughs, Vincent included.

Kuro looked up. "Right, he's dry. Can't have that. HEY VAMP BOY! CATCH!" Kuro then threw a small bag filled with 20 riffle bullets, and 30 shotgun shells. He gave an appreciative nod, and started to reload his guns. Cid then gave Kuro a set of keys. "For your garage. It's relatively undamaged...maybe a dent. And "It's" safe." Kuro just grinned and went up the stairs and behind the mixed weapon/armor/materia shop. Tifa just chuckled and said "Seriously. no more gel at night."

Kuro hastily unlocked the garage and shut it behind him. He flipped on the light switch to reveal a few of his most valued possessions. The first, and certainly not least thing, was his motorcycle. "Ol' Quicksilver. Hope you've been good." He wiped the dust off it to reveal its glossy silver finish. He had used it several times before, and it was, like most of Kuro's things, modified to be exceptionally fast with minimal noise and gas consumption. His second valued item was on the wall in a corner.

Nothing could compare to the sword on the wall. He hurled away his rapier, and took the blade down. It was a katana, and it was of no poor quality. It was, again like most of Kuro's possessions, enchanted. The blade was of a vorpal quality, able to cut through most anything with ease or eventually would. It was at least 7 feet long, 9 if you counted the handle, and it was imprined with the image of a dragon, who had forged the blade long ago. He called it Fang, and it could burst into flame whenever he needed it to. "And from the looks of things, im gonna need it." He said quietly. After taking off his rapier sheath and replacing it with the more durable katana one, he stepped outside, rolling Quicksilver along with him.

Tifa was chatting away with Rin, who was howling with laughter over the time Cloud had used gel that turned his hair purple (From an ingenious prank of Cid, who had help from Kuro. He never knew who Cloud was at the time, he just heard the words "Prank" and "Purple Hair" and was in.), and Kuro couldnt help but make a smirk at that. Tifa noticed Kuro and his bike and said, "You should come back after finishing what you need to do. We could use you here, but if you at least come back, we'd be eternally grateful...right guys?" she said, and she had to prod cloud hard in the ribs to get him to nod along with everyone else.

Kuro shrugged. "Oh I give up. Fine teacher, but I'd better get some extra credit." Cloud gave him a look of absolute rage, but Tifa replied, "Okay...5000 Gil. That and another 2500 for what I owe you." Cloud calmed down, but still hated Kuro. Smiling, he jumped onto Quicksilver, and Rin reluctantly got on. "I'll see you guys shortly. Stay sharp, and i'll be back to help later... if Barrett is still at the farm, and in danger, consider him saved..." he muttered to Rin, "Hang on. This will be one hell of a ride.

* * *

And with that, Quicksilver practically flew toward the chocobo farm, Rin clinging to dear life on the machine going 105 miles per hour.

Chapter ten shall be up soon. I have broken 10,000 words, go me! Read and review, anonymous reviews are now accepted (even though they werent before...sorry).-


	10. We Interupt Your Current Storyline

Chapter -1 : We Interrupt Your Current Story...

Kuro stared at the ceiling. The harsh cold was wafting in through tiny cracks through small holes in the house. Winter bit the town as hard as it could. It was two in the morning, and things kept gnawing at him, devouring his peace. Something was missing from his life. He enjoyed his job, it gained him some respect and some decent cash, and there was no lack of work around here. It wasn't a bad way to live. So what kept him awake? Why wouldn't he fall into peacefull slumber? Why?

He rolled over. Two o' seven. He groaned and stared at the ceiling some more. He felt...empty, for lack of a better term for it. His life had been ruined once. His father figure was dead, his parents were dead, and he was...alone. Totally alone. He didn't have any relatives, and his only friend was Kit. The rest were contacts for his mercenary work, which usually bordered between that and bounty hunting.

Kit wasnt exactly the BEST friend...in his eyes, he found the cheer he always had annoying. He mashed a pillow in his face, feeling the void come back. "Go away..." was his silent plea to the darkness, hoping the warm darkness would envelope him. But it never came. He hated being alone. He almost wanted to cry...break down, and just cry. But he couldn't. He could only endure the sad truths he had.

In fact, he's only partially organic. The atack on the town and the shadow demons sadistic smash paralyzed and permanently damaged some of his body...his left foot, right arm...an eye. But his other cheery pink hair short stacked friend, Washu, fixed him up nicely after his guardian had fed her ego. He never asked how his guardian knew such a fine example of genius, but he never really cared. The enhancements gave him an edge in life and adventure, and it was better than being normal.

Whatever was organic in him, felt like complete and total shit. Life was bearing down on his heels, and he could not escape the undeniable truth. He was truly, without a doubt, alone. And he craved that someone, anyone, would show him true love. He didn't know that, but it was what would heal him. Someone to ease his pain... someone to help him share the sadness...the guilt...

The clock flashed two-twenty. He rolled over, and considered for a moment to cast a sleep spell on himself, making this easier on him and his tired brain and void of a heart. Bored, tired, lonely, lovesick, and it was driving him nearly mad. He sighed, and then quietly told himself..."Maybe tomorrow will bring good news. And if it doesn't, then i'll just keep on living. Even if its a shallow life... i'll live it to the end. He would've wanted it that way, and so would've my parents." He gave in, and shot himself with a sleep spell.

And that late afternoon, A man clad in white with his face hidden by a mask came to him with a job...said he was the best for this. The job to hunt Rin down...

Chapter 10 delayed from a computer problem. settle with this, anybody who reads this story. It'll be up tomorrow or by Thursday at the latest. Please review if you can spare the time.


	11. The Real Chapter 10: Crimson Flight

Chapter 10: Crimson Flight

The long ride to the Chocobo Farm, the wind smacking the hell out of her, and the fact that the bike was the only thing seperating her from becoming a skidmark, this ride wasn't so bad. It was a straight ride, so there was no erratic turning making her cling to Kuro any harder than she needed to. He also served as a nice wind shield. Rin immediately relaxed (but kept clinging) when she saw a shabby shack surrounded by many of the destroyed machine. But that was a short lived break; Barrett pelted at them with his machine gun with deadly accuracy.

Kuro swore and rode along the side of a cliff wall, and then using a well timed blast of aero to send Quicksilver flying. He slammed into the roof of the stables and immediately stopped when he got cover on the other side. "HEY! YA CRAZY FOO'! GET DOWN HERE SO I CAN WASTE YOU LIKE DEM ROBOTS!" Barretts mocking did little more than enrage Kuro, who now had to pay for a new paintjob after he scratched and put a few bullet holes into his bike.

"HEY! ASSHOLE! SUCK ON THIS!" And with that, he flung down a flashbang grenade which blinded Barrett for a few moments. But that was all him and Rin needed, and they let fly both a silence and a blind spell on Barrett. "ARGH! YOU STUPID JACKASSES!" He rolled on the ground, rubbing his eyes furiously as he could barely make out the two figures in front of him. "I hated to do that...but maybe next time you'll think twice before shooting someones motorcycle up." He gave him a swift kick to the gut, knocking all the air out of Barrett, and strolled into the house.

He was met, with a shovel to the head and a pitchfork to the stomach. His sword merely deflected them to the side...after they were sliced off. Bill gasped and exclaimed "AH! IT'S YOU! What luck we have today!" after a few minutes of happy dancing and the chocobo kid Billy trying to stop his dad from being a total idiot, he started talking again. "So what brings you back here? Trying to help us out? Or perhaps you came back for that sleek beauty you have...?"

Kuro shrugged and replied "Yes...and no. I have been helping out both you and the people in Kalm...er...speaking of which...Rin, go check on Barrett. No, I have an agenda of my own to follow so im kinda just backup. And yes, I do want him back for the time being. You kept him safe eh?" A hearty laugh came from Bill. "Yea, but two of the other 5 chocobo we had lying around got killed. Hated to see em die, but we kept the others safe from harm! Mostly Barrett, but still we got a few of our own." A scream followed by gunshots came from outside.

"The hell?" Kuro looked outside to see Barrett running full tilt at Rin, firing madly. "Oi..." He fired a stop spell at Barrett, who was going so fast that when he locked up...he fell over with a loud thud. Billy fell over laughing, and Bill quickly explained who Kuro is and what was going on. "Oh...thought you looked familiar. You look different without ya damn head being hidden by that hooded cloak. Sorry 'bout shootin up the bike."

Rin, who hid inside a stable after running away (also at full tilt, which made her look like a track runner compared to Barrett) from the barrage of bullets, suddenly noticed something poking her in the back. She turned around, and came face to face with a huge crimson colored chocobo. "WARK!" It yelled, and the first thing that Rin thought was appropriate to say was..."AWWWWW ITS SO CUTE!" And she bear hugged it.

But the dark red chocobo merely jumped out of the stables, with Rin hardly aware of it, and trotted outside. "Well you HAVE been taking good care of him. I hope he hasn't been too much of a handfull." Bill stroked the head of the strong bird, and winked at Kuro. "We've been using him to train the other chocobo. Raking in money for that special treatment. People just want the best chocobo, and this chocobo gives them training like Boot Camp."

Out of all the chocobo breeds, The gold chocobo is coveted for his ability to travel over any moutain, across any river, and swim any sea. But, out of all of them, there is only one chocobo that can fly. Red chocobos are hard to find, and they usually are not used for racing. But they can fly as high as the clouds, and laugh at all the chocobo who can barely hover with their wings. They have an elegance to them like no other bird, and are the strongest upper body chocobo.

Kuro moved to his scratched up bike and dragged it into the stable where his chocobo dwelt. He came out holding Sylkis Greens. "We're on a time limit here, so we must go." Rin finally realized that she had been dragged out, and dropped down onto the soft grass. Kuro fed the crimson chocobo the greens, and hopped onto his back...and after 3 attempts, he helped Rin up. "We'll be back after a while. Dont worry Barrett, they're doing fine in town. Stay here and defend your little girl."

"Oh...and give her my regards for her birthday. I didn't really have anything to give her...but she likes chocobos. so.." Kuro gently plucked one of the largest feathers he could find on his bird, and gave it to Barrett. "That will look great in a hat." Barrett shrugged. "Cheap gift, but its the thought dat counts I 'spose. See ya." Kuro nudged his foot into the back of the large bird, and said in a clear voice, "Hapan! Time to stretch your wings!"

Rin noticed that there was no saddle or anything of that sort to hang onto. "Kuro...what am I supposed to-Whoa!" She lunged forward and grabbed him around the waist as Hapan let out a loud, pridefull 'Wark!', broke off into a trot, then a quick run, and eventually flapping his wings to go adrift. Eventually, they were flying high in the sky, peering down at the small buildings and moutains. They passed over Kalm, which was safe and not under atack, for the time being.

He banked left, eventually coming to another land mass. Costa De Sol came and went, and Rin eyes went wide as she saw what appeared to be a desert...but it couldn't have been. There was a huge amusement park right in the middle of it all! "Im not seeing things, am I?" She said, in awe for the second time this day. "No, your not. That, Is the Golden Saucer. We'll be heading in there first, to see if Hikari is gambling or something. Then we stock up. And..." he groaned, but continued, "We can have some fun." Rin was estatic to hear this, and Kuro felt another sore blow coming to his wallet.

He soared low, riding along side the moving tram car, and people, mostly kids, pointed at the bird soaring defiantly. Hapan moved faster than them, and landed inside the Golden Saucer entranceway. The attendant bowed and patted the chocobo on the head. "Hi. Welcome to the golden saucer. May I see your ticket?" Kuro flashed the gold colored ticket at her. "Very well. Enjoy your stay, and ill take your chocobo to the stables." She stepped out of the way, and Kuro led Rin through the mog mouth archway.

AN : Yes. I am fully aware that the place is called the GOLD saucer, not the golden. But you know what I can do in a situation like this? Plot Device. So I can say its under new management and someone renamed it to golden! so ha! Read and Review Please. And this chapter is kinda short because Chapter 11 is gonna be more focused on the fun and games rather than the seriousness of the situations at hand.


	12. Happy Go Lucky

Chapter 11: Happy Go Lucky

The Gold Saucer has been a grand source of fun and amusement for as long as anybody can recall. The place went under a huge overhaul, as the profits of the place actually quadrupled. People sought a place to forget the fact that they were soon to be crushed under meteor, and they decided the Gold Saucer would be the best place. Die having fun; it's not a bad idea. After the incident came and went, people went there even more, to try to forget the events that scared them half to death.

Dio actually got married shortly afterward to a nice but kinda ditzy girl named Cassy. She helped remake the Gold Saucer, and turned it into the Golden Saucer. She said it had a better ring to it. She also planned out the new casino rooms filled with slots and card tables, two restraunts, a larger hotel, a longer speed ride, and even a pool area. Personally, Kuro liked the new upgraded VR games, and the speed ride was kinda a hobby; he held one of the top scores. He wanted to beat his number 2 score, but aiming while moving at a high speed is not as easy as it looks.

Rin was in awe, and she stared at the directory board to figure out what she wanted to do first. "Ooo, a stage preformance at 8 o' clock! No wait, the pool and the wicked water slides! WAIT! They have chocobo racing!" She squealed at the posibilties. "Now Rin...oh what the hell. Fine, but we cannot overspend what funds we have. I'd say...4000 Gil. Each." He shoved the money into Rin's eager hands, and watched her as she jumped into a slide and went to the chocobo betting room. Kuro, on the other hand, went directly to the bar.

He flew upward with a loud FWOMP sound, and as he landed, walked toward the nearest barstool he saw. A large mog in the corner caught his eye. "No way. Reeve?" The cat dancing ontop the mog head fell over with a loud thud. "Ah! Dont do that!" The cat hastily climbed back ontop his large stuffed ride. "Yeesh. Well, if it isn't the best customer of practially any bar around here. What makes you come back? Tryin' to beat my high score? Or just kicking back?"

Kuro tapped 3 times, and got a regular beer. "Kickin back with a nice little vixen demon. Im on a buisness trip, but figured, why not a bit of fun before the shit hits the fan?" The cat tilted his head. "A girl, with you? Thats so unlike you. I didn't think you were capable of feelin' love man..." the cat wagged a finger at Kuro. "Looks are decieving I suppose. Nobody thinks this is a machine, they think it's a man in a suit. Nobody ever thinks im controlling this thing cept the crew. So...is she your girlfriend?"

* * *

Rin watched as the most cutest pink chocobo she had ever thought possible ran neck and neck with a jet black chocobo, with a yellow and white not too far behind them. "Come on! I know you can do it! I have 50 Gil and a Hi Potion riding on you!" She yelled enthusiastically, watching them both give it their all to come out on top. Suddenly, the yellow chocobo ran past them both, and not wanting to be outdone, so did the pink. The yellow finished first, but the pink came out on second. Rin failed to win a Hi Potion, but got a nice Mini materia instead. 

"Aww...oh well. Better than nothing!" She began picking again, choosing the cutest two chocobo instead of the two best.

* * *

"Aheh...I dont know. We've only been together a few days. She's a bit dense, but an okay girl. I guess we're just friends for the time being." Kuro sipped the last drops of beer and placed 100 gil on the table. He tapped 2 times, and got a scotch on the rocks. "Friends eventually bloom into something else, if they let it." Kuro knew that wherever Reeve was, he was laughing it up. "I dont disagree with that. But im kinda thinking on other things at the moment. So if you dont mind me changing subjects, what are you up to these days?" 

The mog raised its hands and dropped them. "It's been rough. Im more or less the mascot now. Ever since Shinra went kaput, I needed a job. So this pays the bills. Could be better though, so I gamble from time to time." The cat gave him a smirk. "Did I mention that Heddigar is a janitor here? My job seems like heaven compared to that." Kuro grinned back, raised his glass in a toast fashion, and downed it. "Amen to that. Hey, did they ever fix...you know." The cat couldn't help but give a look of detirmenation. "Bring it on."

* * *

"Woo hoo! That makes 3 out of 5 that I won!" Rin gave herself a mental pat on the back, and looked at her goodies: the Mini materia, the Ether, and her favorite, a chocobo plushie that was bright blue. She considered making another bet, but it has already cost her 200 of her precious 4000 gil. "...Better conserve this. Have more fun somewhere else." She skipped off with her earnings through the pipe that lead to the arcade. "Maybe Kuro went there... the techno geek." She giggled. 

"Damn. You've gotten better at this." Kuro nodded his approval to Reeve, who had 5 more wins. He slammed another 25 gil into the machine, and started wailing as hard as he could on his opponent. "Fire blast!" A wave of fire hit his virtual opponent. Reeve countered with a series of punches and kicks, but Kuro kept up a solid defense. "Wait for it...Grand Slam!" He used the best move he had for his character, and a punch engulfed in energy slammed his foe into a wall.

"Well your not too rusty anyhow. Great at fighting games and fighting monsters." The giant mog hand slapped Kuro on the back, and then started walking away. "I got to do my job, the break is over. See you around." The pink mog slipped away, and was replaced by Rin, who was estatic about her winnings. "Those are very nice. How much you have left, I got like... 3650 to my name." Rin held up a respectable 3800 gil. "Okay..." He checked his watch. "I suppose you want to see the show. it's in 3 hours, so lets meet at the main entrance at 7:45. Okay?" Rin nodded, and Kuro drifted out of the arcade, and with good reason.

Rin looked around. "What to play...what to...pl..." She just hopped onto the Dance Dance Revolution machine, and started dancing her butt off, smiling all thewhile.

* * *

Kuro made his way back to the entrance and rounded the corner. The G man was waiting. "You know my wages. How much you want?" Kuro shoved 1000 into his hands and took 50 G back. "Have a nice day." Kuro, practically running, went straight toward the speed tube and did a flip into it. He didn't stop moving like the world was ending till he was in the roller coaster seat holding his laser cannon. "Fasten your seatbelts, this will be a hell of a ride." And the carts began moving...

* * *

By this time, Rin was exhausted...but not only from DDR, but from the wrestling game, and the super hoop game. Her arms felt like jello, and her legs worse. "Excuse me...but do you know the time?" The attendant looked at her watch, then responded "It's nearly 6:45." "Thank you." She hopped into the tube with the label Casino, and decided to relax with some card games. "Blackjack is so much fun..." She said to herself, the weight of the urgent matters at hand seemed miles away.

* * *

"Come on baby...come on...SWEET!" He pumped his fist into the air, as the scoreboard flashed him as the highest score ever. "I never guessed I would've beaten that. A near flawless score, beaten by an even nearer one. Makes you wonder if anybody could..." He shrugged, and took his prize of a portable lazer cannon with that worked like a laser pen, only with a larger beam. "Lets see... 6:50...Hmm. I need a workout." He jumped through a tube, though I hardly suppose anyone needs to know which one he went into. 

With Fang at his side, the Battle Arena seemed like childs play. Even after losing all his magic and armor, he held his own against the foes that kept trying to beat him down. But luck eventually faded, and Kuro got turned into a tiny foe with a very sharp toothpick. Fortunately, luck favored him one more round, and he had to fight some frogs. It was on even terms, but an experienced warrior knows when to run, so after slaying the frogs (made easy with fang), he quit with a decent 7863 battle points. He got himself a whole bunch of holy ammo.

But he had spent alot of time in the arena, and it was nearly 7:50. "Wuh oh. Time to go!" He scooped up the ammo he had won into his bag, and rushed to the main entrance tube.

* * *

Rin impatiently tapped her foot as Kuro flew out of the tube and in front of her. "It's about time! We're gonna be late for the show!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him into the room. "Man...this better be a good show for all this trouble." They sat down in the virtually unchanged theater room (the only difference was comfy seats and more lighting), and the lights slowly dimed. Then, a spotlight flashed on a sole person in the middle of the stage, holding a guitar. Slowly, he began to play a tune. 

It was slow, and mournful. Soon, another spotlighted flicked on and shone on a girl playing a flute, adding onto the sadness of the song. She also lightly danced around on the stage, captivating anyone with her grace and elegance. Then, on cue, the tune went upbeat and drums and violins offstage began to play and bring the song in full circle. Nobody expected what happend next.

A clear, 3D projection of a valiant knight trying to save a princess from a dragon that resembled Ultima Weapon, began dueling to the beat of the song. Then, the song went just to the flute player as the knight was blown away by the atack known as Shadow Flare. But then a bold red light surrounded the man, and then he was surrounded with his comrades. They all atacked in unison, each one making the great dragon howl in pain and misery. The knight leapt up high, and with a mighty stroke, brought down his sword and cleaved the dragon in two. He slowly made his way to the princess, collapsed in her arms, and everybody could tell he was mortally wounded. But with his final effort, he kissed the princess.

The music ended, the image of the princess sobbing into the brave knight's chest faded and formed the famous red materia, and a uproar of cheers and applause came. The man and woman bowed, and proceeded offstage.

The 3D projection went into something rather predictable to Kuro; it portrayed the battle between the 8 hero's of this world against the mighty "one winged angel" as they named him. Tifa, Barrett, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Yuffie, Vincent, Cid, and Cloud were fighting for their lives, giving it all they got, and music was blaring in the backround, very upbeat and heroic-like.

Then another unsurprising thing to Kuro; he remembered that fabled atack called Omnislash, and Cloud was using it on Sephiroth. The fury of each blow seemed to pale in comparison to the last, and when the final blow landed home, the universe seemed to shatter, and they were all flung back. It even went as far as when they were escaping in the Highwind, and Holy was banishing Meteor away. This landed more uprorar from the crowd as the explosion took out Midgar and Meteor in one fell swoop.

Then, probably for respect for each one, they had a scene dedicated to each one with their name coming in after them in bold text. Cid was flying high in the sky, smoking a ciggerate with the wind blowing through his hair. Tifa was serving up drinks, and eventually tossed out a bar crasher. Yuffie was dancing with her materia. Cait Sith was entertaining kids around the Gold Saucer and Barrett took Marlene to school (which got an "awwww" from the audience). Red XIII was teaching his kids how to play, but Vincent, oddly enough, was resting above a waterfall, staring pensively at the sky. Cloud, like the egotistical guy he is, was riding his motorcycle around Junon, doing all sorts of crazy tricks.

Then there was a battle between the 3 most powerfull dragons ever; Bahamut, Neo Bahamut, and Bahamut Zero. The dragons clashed with eachother, blasting eachother. The music was more dramatic and scary, and a loud screech from a violin would emit everytime they landed a claw scratch or a flare atack. Eventually, the dragons merged together to form the most mythic of all the dragons, rumored to be impossible to see or achieve, Infinity Bahamut. A beast with 3 heads, each one of the dragons themselves, and they circled the earth in all their glory.

The music died down, and the audience gave one last round of roaring applause. Rin clapped her hands sore, and gave a few whistles. Kuro did it in a more mild fashion, slowly clapping. The room emptied, and it was 10:30. Kuro decided that one more ride would be fine before they went to the hotel to rest up for tomorrow.

He grabbed Rin's arm, and escorted her to,what he put as, "the best damn show here". The lift started up, and they rode on the skytram around the Golden Saucer, with the fireworks blaring one after the other.

It was the first time that Kuro felt a sense of ease in a long while. He stared at the stars, the fireworks, and Rin..so carefree, even though danger is lurking around the next corner. "Its proof," he told himself. "Proof that anything can be healed with time..." He went back to viewing the amazing fireworks; Dio had really outdone himself now! "Kuro...Did you happen to see Hikari?" She looked out the corner of her eye and saw him shake his head. "Kind of a good thing you didn't. Otherwise, we would've missed such a beautiful evening or a fun filled day." She looked at him and smiled. Kuro just smiled back.

* * *

And...They wore the same smile all the way to the hotel room.

Authors Notes- Yea, I am being kinda hard on Cloud arent I? Well I think he's too egotistical at times. Too self centered. Anyhow, I explained the reason its the Golden Saucer now. Chapter 12 will be up around the weekend (if I get around to it), and im thinking of another negative short chapter. Oh, and if you need to know that that red materia is, Play FF7, get a gold chocobo, and go to that small island out in the middle of nowhere that nobody can get into without the shiny gold bird. Seriously, if you dont know, you should NOT be reading anything with a Final Fantasy hint in it.


	13. Past, Present, Future

Chapter 12: Past, Present, Future

Kuro was incredibly drunk. He wobbled with every movement, with every sip of his bottle of scotch, and anytime he hung his head, there was an unmistakeable sob. "Maybe if I drink enough, i'll forget." It was a good idea on paper, but he was succumbing to the beer more than forgetting about the horrified look on her face. He gave way, slammed his head into the bar table, and after a phone call, Kit came down and dragged him out of there.

The second time he questioned his life was just after the fatefull day he missed and hit an innocent girl. Everyday, he slumped around, wondering how long he would mourn. He never smiled again, untill Rin came around. He was depressed, and couldn't take it. But Kit eventually snapped him out of it, and told himself he wouldn't feel remorse. Standing on a cliffside, he made a bet with himself. More against himself, with uneven odds. If he couldn't find a way to bring back the dead into a living shell, he would do something forbidden.

When preforming a ritual that had the potential of bringing forth Satan's army and the man himself at the cost of sacrificing your own life to bring back another, it had dire consequences either way.

* * *

Kuro sleepily opened his eyes. Peering around through slits in his eyelids, he noticed that Rin was gone, though after inspecting it, her bed was still slightly warm. "Breakfast, bathroom, or went off to party more," he guessed. He rubbed his head; that liqour caught up to him, and he was slightly hung over. There was a complimentary bottle of water on the nighstand, so he grabbed it and chugged down the pure contents.

He hurled the empty bottle into a trashcan, and stared outside into the early morning. The sun peaked over Cosmo Canyon, giving off a very red sun, and the moutains surrounding Corel looked especially nice with their snow capped peaks. Kuro always said the view was nice from here, and that nobody could say otherwise. Feeling his hunger grow, he rummaged the mini bar. "Heh..." he pulled out a stack of Sushi for 650 gil, a cup of noodles for 150, and a bottle of beer for 275. Expensive, yes, but he was too lazy to drag himself down to the restraunt.

So after preparing his noodles, he quietly ate while contemplating what to do next. "He's not here. He may have himself holed down in that shack not too far from here...or he's back in CC, reading up on books." He shoved a California Roll into his mouth. "Mmmph. Where to look first..." he knew Cosmo Canyon was Hikari's favorite place to relax and read, but his shack was well hidden from others. He usually just got a book or two, headed back, and read in solitude.

"This is getting real fustrating..." he mused silently to himself. He decided to search Cosmo Canyon first, then search the shack. The clock flashed 8. Slurping down his noodles he decided to leave a note on the nightstand. "Rin, went to do one last thing before we go. I'll be back around..." he scratched his chin, and said, "I dunno, maybe 10. Help yourself to food in the mini bar, and have whatever fun you want." He taped the note onto the T.V, strolled out into the hallway, and proceeded to the last place he wanted to go to.

"That'll be 2000 Gil." Kuro paid up for the 2 hour session, and slipped into a VRpod. "I think you will be pleased sir, the upgrades we've done block out 95 of all outside distractions and allow for realism uncomparable. Kuro just smiled back and said, "Ill take the free mind play." The man casually replied, "They always pick that one. Nobody ever wants to win the superbowl or become a rock star. Go figure!", and jammed his thumb down onto a blue button.

Kuro was instantly flying down to earth. He spun out his dual pistols (which in VR, never needed to be reloaded.) and began unloading them all into a bunch of harpy's and various flying monsters that decided he was fair game. It literally rained bullets with his insane trigger finger and infinite bullets. He then landed on the top of a bus with little more than a tap of his foot. He spun out a blue energy sword, and dueled a black shadowy version of himself.

Eventually the shadow summoned up two large golems made of iron. Kuro got pummeled by them and their large fists, and the shadow just laughed. "HELLFIRE WAVE!" He blew them both off, and they landed on the shadow. "Wee, I hope you had fun," Kuro said with a grin, "but our time has come to an end. INFERNO CRASH!" A blast of fire came from his hands and blasted the three foes far away. He kept his grin untill he realized that his guns were gone.

Shadow just danced around with them a mile away. "Why that little..." He literally flew off the bus into a run, going 100 MPH and slammed into him. But this time, he was the one countered, and got a huge wave of energy in his face. Kuro was never one to be underestimated, and the blue sword slammed into the feet of Shadow...and was blown sky high from the resulting explosion. "KYAAAAAAA!" he let go of the guns, and they flew into Kuro's waiting hands.

Bullets flew once more, unloading into Shadow with all the effort he could muster into pulling the trigger. Eventually, Shadow slammed into Kuro, and they both went spinning. And they both did this with a smile. Kuro slammed his foot down into Shadow's back, and used him as a landing pad. Kuro stepped off, dusted himself, then kicked him into the tallest building he saw. He spun his pistols, and the energy sword eventually returned to his grip.

But then, something he didn't expect came upon his head in a blinding wave of 100 pure flare. "AIGH!" he was flung into the air, and was mercilessly slashed at with a pair of dual daggers. He suddenly used his pistols to upright himself and drive off the unknown assailant. When he finally adujusted himself and landed onto another car, he saw..."Deja freakin vu." Rin was ontop another car not too far behind him, looking incredibly smug and incredibly dangerous with her two daggers and the aura surrounding them and her.

It then became a battle of magic. Kuro fired a well aimed fire spell, but Rin countered with water. "LIT!" yelled Kuro. "EARTH!" yelled back. Meteo was countered by Comet. A blast of Bio was canceled out by a rush of Aero. Rin decided to unleash the ultimate spell. "ULTIMA!" The green wave of destruction came square at Kuro, and he countered with the only spell he knew that could do it. "Reflect." The spell bounced back and rebounded back at her, but she merely reflected it back.

"Hell with it. NUKE!" The rush of red energy stopped the Ultima spell dead in its tracks, and the spells clashed in midair, fighting for the win. They eventually exploded, and they were both knocked off their rides. Rin shakily got up, but Kuro was flying at her through the black smoke, with his energy sword raised overhead. The blade flashed as it sliced through Rin, vanquishing her back into her body. He sheathed the sword, and left as well.

Rin sat up as the pod opened up. "How did you..." Kuro merely shrugged. "Reflexes of a cat, missy." She shook her head, and said, "not that. How did you unleash that spell? It was said to perish with the death of the last pure black mage!" But a shroud of black smoke clouded his face, and two silver glowing eyes peered back at her. "My mother WAS the last pure black mage. Now that would be me." He wagged a gloved finger at her face, and though she couldn't see it, she knew he was wearing a huge smirk.

"Many tricks are up my sleeves, and in my head. Never forget that...and never forget, that there are two spells that can and will do some apocolyptic damage, and they are learned by only the best of the best mages...and I have them." He walked out of the room, leaving Rin in silence.

* * *

Back in the hotel room, he gathered up all the stuff he had won, along with Rin's. "What are you doing...?" Kuro just threw a bag filled with her winnings at her. "We're burning daylight and time, which was short to begin with. If we dont move now..." The shroud of blackness left his face, and he looked worried. "...we may have two problems."

They hurried down to the chocobo stables, and Hapan was more than glad to see them. He hopped on his back, helped Rin up again, and kicked his chest softly. "Time is short! Hapan, give it your best! Show these chocobo how it's done!" Hapan emited a loud wark, ruffling all the feathers of the other chocobo, and he flew out of the Golden Saucer. But this time, Rin noticed that the chocobo was glowing faintly. "What the...why is he glow-" was all she could say, as at that moment, the chocobo was hurled forward toward the slowly enlarging red town of Cosmo Canyon.

But then he landed within the canyon walls, and was rushing toward the town with all the energy the chocobo's body could muster. "Last run! Lets move it!" And if possessed by a limitless stamina, the chocobo instantly tripled his speed. Rin was clinging to the bird and Kuro simeltaneously, praying that she wouldnt fall off the speedy bird. But he skidded, just coming outside the town. "Wark...wark...wark..." Hapan sat down, exhausted. "You did good." Kuro gave the chocobo a bunch of greens, and then walked into the town.

Rin hurried behind him, and stared. "So...serious. Whats up with this town?" Kuro gave her a look. "This town thought the world was ending. Lets see how you react; these people are different, they're more spiritual. Returning to the earth as a power supply for the most evil being on this planet...not a pleasant thought. Not at all." Rin opened her mouth to speak, but shut it and nodded. She figured it best not to know how evil this person was.

Kuro pointed to a door. "Go in there, and wait for me. If Hikari is here, he wouldn't want to meet you just yet. Never really liked strangers, by my guessing." He gave Rin whatever money he had left from all his spending, and said, "buy yourself a drink or something. This wont take long." It was Rin's turn to make a face, but she sighed and complied. Kuro went up the stone steps, knowing exactly where Hikari would be hiding out here.

Hikari was not a bounty hunter, nor a mercenary. He was one of the few Ex-soilders drifting around, a second class. There was an incident, and Kuro didn't know the full details. But if he was gonna get his help, he was going to have to help the man face his past. He opened the door, and just as he had expected, Hikari was sitting at a table, lost in thought, drinking a piping hot mug of coffee. But the moment he noticed, Hikari was up, in front of Kuro, and a customized Desert Eagle was pointed in his face, saftey off, cocked and ready to fire.

"Why do 'I' keep getting Deja Vu?" he thought. "First a knife to my throat, and now a gun that can pop someones head like a balloon. I must have the WORST luck ever." Kuro eyes then widened as he heard a voice behind him. "EEK! KURO!" Screamed Rin, and she startled Hikari enough for him to clench his hands. The trigger was squeezed. The hammer smashed into the back of the heavy calibur bullet, and it flew from the barrel.

**Bang**. **Thud**.


	14. The more the merrier

Chapter 13: The more the merrier

Kuro slumped to the floor, with a large hole in his head, gushing blood. The Desert Eagle smoked from the bullet, and Rin just crashed to her knees. "Kuro...get up..." She shook his body. "Get up...please...I can't do this alone...and I dont know how to get out of here!" She shook Kuro more violently, but the realization that he was dead finally sunk in, and shecried into his shoulder.

Hikari just smiled. Rin scowled at him and smacked him upside his head. "Why did you do that? WHY?" She began pounding her fists into his chest, hoping that her fustrations would lessen. But eventually, she just slumped to the floor again, crying. But if she knew what Hikari knew, then she would've kept shaking Kuro. His hand crept up to the hole in his forehead, and it yanked out the bullet. A splurt of blood came out, but the wound slowly healed and sealed up, but it left a mark.

"Oww... Dont you have any manners? It's really rude to shoot someone with a gun they made for you!" Kuro was on his feet in a flash and with two berretta's did to Hikari what they did to Kuro. He flew backward into a wall, but the bullets dissolved in his body, and the wounds leaked something clear, but they emitted a light. Hikari got back onto his feet, and there was almost no trace of the bullet wounds in either of them.

Rin shrieked. "Kuro...but he...and then...and you...and...and..." She fell over, and passed out. Hikari scratched the back of his head. "Not one for surprises is she?" Kuro gave a typical shrug, and just picked her up by the armpits. "No, like your not one for being a man of class. Sheesh, why did I make you that gun is beyond me..." He grumbled as he dragged Rin into the kitchen and proped her against a wall.

Kuro eventually revived rin, and put an ice pack on her head from where it hit the ground. "What in the hell was that?" Rin said, both angry and curious at the strange healing abilities of both of them. "Well, it's just how demons work. You of all people should know of the healing factor we generate. It takes a hell of a lot of damage to take us out permanently. And my buddy Hikari here, well..."

"I am what Kuro classified me as. An Elemental Hybrid. We...dont appear often. My body is pure energy, so I never sleep, and I eat only out of the fun of it. No bathroom breaks. But I am a male, in organs. Funny how that organ formed, but nothing else did.. We also...heal...real fast, and very few methoods can kill us. Kuro here has found one, and only one. But It requires excellent execution, and a bit of luck. That, and the fact that I know it means I can counter it." He waved to a hot pot of coffee on the stove. "Help yourself."

After pouring up a couple cups of coffee, Kuro sat down and grew grim. "Lets get serious here now. I came here to enlist your help Hikari. The Shadow Demons are amassing again, and if someone doesn't stop them, they may just take over my homeland and that world itself. They may even spread, destroying as they go. I dont have a great plan to stop them, persay...but I have a few ideas in mind, and if I had you, the chances increase by a bit. I'm fairly sure that you'll reject this, but maybe..."

Hikari just gave him a grim face. "You know I gave up fighting. It was of one mistake..." He looked down into the mug of coffee, which was slowly going cold. Kuro tilted his head, and Rin looked on with interest. "What happend? What could have been so bad?" she said in a sympathetic voice. Hikari scoffed and said, "Spare me the pity. I dont deserve it. But i'll tell you anyhow, as I know how much people hate it to be left in the dark about things."

"When I was working with Shinra, I was one of the rare few cases in which the mako showering had an enhanced effect, from being inhuman. I was tons stronger, and they wanted me on the front lines. Eventually, a rebelious group formed up again, different from AVALANCHE. They were probably from the town of Corel, to get even with Shinra. Me and my squad of 15 people, went to investigate the reactor in the moutains of Corel. Said it was dangerous, but they wanted the power. We walked right into the trap."

"Just after getting in, two people stepped on pressure mines simeltaneously, blowing away 3 people instantly and scorching 2. They all had their guns out, but the surprise atack from above and the shut door behind us created both confusion and chaos. We barely had a chance to fire our guns before more of the squad was killed. only 4 remained along with myself after we fended off the rebels who took pot shots above us on a railing. We had to get the door open to get out. The control room was always located in the far back of all Shinra reactors. And now I curse them for that."

"Out wits about us, and strangely enough no more resistance, we made our way to the control room. But they had another ambush waiting, but it wasn't a pack of rebels; it was a monster. They had sent a creature composed of what I assume to be a mako shower beyond what most subjects were supposed to recieve. It was practically a dog mixed with a dragon, but melting..."

"It was me, three of the soilders, and my buddy nicknamed Ace, against this peice of work. The thing was upon one of the soilder as soon as we opened fire, and was devoured. The screams the man emited...the last female ran it out of there, and the man kept it busy, as well as me and ace. But the man was killed, and we fled as he howled in pain. But, I dropped one of the proximity mines I brought along, and as the bastard stepped on it..."

He let out a hollow chuckle. "The team was massacred. It was mostly my fault; I led them into a trap without even investigating it further, and just brought them all into the place at once. After 13 missions with no casulties, I suppose I got really cocky. I didn't even pay the price. The horrible look on their faces as they got mauled, shot, burned, or blown up...it's pushed me to the edge. I...dont think I can help you."

Kuro scowled. "Get a hold of yourself! If you wimp out on life, you'll do nothing but snivel at every oportunity for it! Dont do that. It's a horrible life, and I think your team wouldn't care if you led them into a trap. You still managed to help out both your friend and a woman you barely knew. Your still a good man, just one who has to lug around a bad memory."

Hikari smiled and took a long draught of the coffee. "Thats not like you at all. Is it because you have her tagging around?" Rin gave an angry look at Hikari, and wanted to smack him. "He's just a good man at heart. Sides, im bugging him more than im helping him." She grinned, and Kuro scowled again. "Okay your right about that...But im mostly helping you out because I need help myself."

He scratched his head. "I dont know much about shadow demons...But if it's something to help redeem myself, I guess its time to come out of retirement. So, is it just you, me, and the lady over there?" Hikari turned to look at her. "Er...the name is Rin. And im not sure myeslf. If we're lucky, we might have Kuro's buddy Kit tagging with us. But even with Kit, we are very short handed."

Hikari looked out the window. "Well, I could enlist Ace. He's still a soilder, and ready to fight. But he's kinda far, and located in Wutai." Even as the word came out, Kuro blanched. "Wu..tai? Are you sure? Really really sure?" Rin and Hikari both gave him a confused look. "Yes, why? There's nothing wrong with that place anymore; they even cleared out the monsters in the moutains. Whats the problem?"

Kuro didn't say a word after that. He could already hear her cheery voice...

"Oh Kuro...I have something fooor yoooou!"


	15. The standard cheesy flashback part 1

Chapter 14 The standard cheesy flashback (Part 1)

To choose between the increased chances of your hometown surviving and your family being avenged, but doing so required you to face your past and a powefull ninja girl, or just staying with the low odds and going with a hope and a prayer, which would you choose? Kuro bit his lip as he remembered the past experiences with the kunochi. He almost drew blood from biting as he thought about how angry she could be with him.

* * *

One year after the incident with meteor, Yuffie Kirasagi decided it would be a great benefit for her and her giant sacks of materia (which were from Cloud, after he promised to give them to her) to protect and restore the town of Wutai to its former glory. She kept the best for herself; Bahamut Zero, Ultima, all the highest powered spells. The rest, she distributed throughout the town. Guards used it to fend off atacking monsters, while villagers used it to ease their lives. Whatever they did not need, they sold and flourished even more. Yuffie, on the other hand, had a different reaction.

She was bored! Sitting on the throne every couple of days, listening to people ramble on about their problems, which she easily fixed, or sucking up to other people from other towns just to improve Wutai even more... the guards rarely let her out of their sight, and even then it was only for a moderate ammount of time which she went out; Wutai didn't have anything fun to do. Once in a blue moon, a challenger managed to get to the top of the Padoga, and she was waiting there with a smile.

They never lasted long enough for sport.

So she called upon her friends for help. With the help of Cait Sith and Tifa, they arranged for the Turtle Paradise to be expanded a bit, to have more drinks and more things to do. They added pool tables, a few slot machines, video poker, and a widescreen TV to watch the chocobo racing. Yuffie liked to watch the chocobo racing, and decided to help the Golden Saucer out. She asked Dio to build a racing center just outside Wutai, and set up a betting area too. Every other day, she visited the place, made a few bets, cheered on her favorite riders, and came back home.

Boredom came back to her. So one day, she decided to make one of the most absurd bets in the history of betting: a 1,000,000 Gil on the 5th best rider out there, with 6 to 1 odds. Her advisors tried to convince her otherwise, but they ended up with a bruised head in the end, and Yuffie casually strolled, placed her bet, and watched the race unfold in front of her. But Kuro, at the age of 18, heard about the racing going on in Wutai, and decided to start racing there. The Golden Saucer was nice, but he wanted a change.

During his 2 years of racing (he stopped briefly during the atack of meteor), the second half was with his crimson feathered chocobo Hapan. The first half, he did ok. he worked his way up through the ranks, making it to A rank. After he got Hapan, he managed to break into the S rank, but he wasnt great. And, you guessed it, he was fifth ranked and desperately wanted to win his race in Wutai, to hopefully gain some publicity. "No pressure, Hapan. No pressure."

As he hopped upon his chocobo and proceeded to make his way to the starting gate, a man came up to him, and with a menacing tone, started to say something. "Miss Kirasagi has foolishly betted on your chocobo. If you fail to win this race, the country may have financial problems. If you fail, you may also have living problems." The man walked away without looking back, and Kuro just muttered, "Real good pep talk asshole. Maybe I should lose so you town goes back to a living hell."

"And the racers are at the starting gate. It will start in one minute." Yuffie sat in a front row seat, just by the starting gate. "You and your oversized chicken better do it..." she read the name, then looked at the man. "Well for your sake, I hope you race as good as you look, Kuro." She smiled, and the Announcer started to speak again. "Riders, get ready." The bell rang, the gates opened up, and the chocobo flew out.

Kuro held a respectable 3rd place during the first few moments of the race, Hapan doing his best to keep up, if not pass, the blue and white chocobo in front of him. The rest of the chocobo seemed like they were walking compared to them. "Hapan, lets do plan c." The chocobo warked, and none of the audience could believe their eyes as Kuro used his arms to flip himself far over the two riders, and with Hapan's load lightened, he rocketed foward past them and under Kuro.

Although, when he landed, he slowed his ride down a little, and now the three chocobo were neck in neck.

Yuffie and the crowds were screaming for Kuro to win. All of their chocobo were tired and exhausted, and they were giving every last bit of stamina they had. The finish line was only a mere 7 meters away. And in those last adrenaline filled moments, Kuro whispered to Hapan, "Show em why your the best." His wings went up, flapped once, twice, and the third sent him thrusting foward over the finish line, in a well earned 1st place.

And Yuffie won 8 million gil. All of her body guards had their mouths open. And just like anybody would've done should someone else win them a whole ton of money, she jumped out of the seat, and ran to Kuro as he dismounted the worn out Hapan. A series of congradulatory kisses on the cheek and hugs later, She invited Kuro to come with her to a huge victory party in his honor. And Kuro never could resist a party, let alone one in his honor by a cute girl.

And he never regretted it. There was such a spread of food, Kuro thought it would be impossible to eat it all. Roasted chicken, t-bone steaks, grilled honey ham, mashed potatoes, gravy of the steak and chicken variety, sushi with plenty of soy sauce, various soups, mushrooms cooked to perfection; it was like being at heaven's kitchen. And Kuro was surprised to see that Yuffie could really pig out when she wanted to. They challenged eachother to an eating contest, but Kuro, with his half demon belly, won out in the end.

Then it escalated to a drinking contest. Sake bottles started to line the table. Kuro looked like his cheeks were cherries, but Yuffie had a face that could only be described as a tomato. But this time, Kuro let her win it so she wouldnt succumb to alcohol poisoning. Her prize was him helping her to a sink to throw up the contents of her drinking contest. But she was far from down, and wanted to have one more contest.

"You are absolutely sure?" Kuro tilted his head and gave a look of concern. "You've had a lot to drink. But if your 100 sure..." She nodded, and their elbows were on the table, and their hands gripped one another. One of the people attending the party was the ref. "Okay...on three, you start. one...two...three!" In that split second, Yuffie's hand was about a centimeter away from being pinned. She strained her arm, and tried to move it, but it would not budge. Kuro's arm was not shaking from strain, or even putting up a fight. He just sat there, smiling.

And at this point, he just moved his hand down and pinned her before she decided to pull a muscle. "Winner! Kuro!" Scattered applause came around, as they knew how strong Yuffie was after all of her training. A few people gave handshakes, and even one person slapped him on the back. She massaged her arm, and Kuro cracked his hand and rotated his wrist. "Not bad, not bad at all. You almost had me strain my arm." She look like she had been slapped, but she calmly replied, "Well I never thought your stick arms would hold up against my muscular arms."

Kuro got a little angry, but kept his temper. She was the heir to a throne, and if he did anything he might regret, it would prove fatal. "You win a girl a few million, and they still dont like ya. Most women should be satisfied at this point, so what do you want thats so much better than money and material items?" Yuffie grinned widely (the sake still clouding her mind), and replied, "I like pride and a sense of acomplishment. Whats the point of doing something if it doesn't get you anywhere, or give you any credentials?" She laughed, and took another swig of a near-empty bottle.

"There are better things in the world than pride, though." He leaned back in his chair with a squeak, and flipped a peice of meat into his mouth with a free hand. "Oh really? Is that why you raced your hardest today and won? If it's not for the pride of being the best, or not for the fangirls, then why did you do it?" She took another swig of sake. Kuro shrugged and softly responded, "To prove to myself, that im still alive and not a hollow shell."

The words were more to himself than Yuffie, but she took it, hard. She left her hometown to prove herself as well, to show that she had what it took to be a ninja. "I can relate to that, Kuro." She held up her bottle in a toast fashion, and downed the rest. He smiled, and stopped leaning in a chair. "There are worse things than having your pride wounded or being unknown as well."

She was now curious. "Like...what?" "Tell me, how would you feel...if your hometown was destroyed, all your friends and family slaughtered, and you, by all impossible odds, were the sole survivor? Tell me, how would you feel if you were the only living blood relation to people long dead? Tell me." His words were not of spite, or anguish, but of a more meaningfull tone. He still missed his family, and the man who was taking care of him was starting to become ill.

"I...cant...I mean I...I..." She looked down, with uncertainty. "Did this happen, to you?" A nod was his response. "My god...I sympathize with you, I really do!" Kuro had his face hidden by his hat. Yuffie was more uncertain now. "Was he angry with me? Was he thinking? What...Is going through his head?" She thought. He tipped his hat up, and he had a smile on his face. "Best not to dwell on the past, or it'll eat you alive. Thats what I think."

"Happy even after that..." She finally passed out on the table, and her guards helped her to the room. One of her advisors came over to him and said he would have a room ready in Turtle Paradise, by orders of Miss Kirasagi.. He gathered himself up, and bid them a good night. As he walked to the Inn, he noticed how nice the town was. The stars shimmered, illuminating every corner they could see. "If I could live here..." he thought, but as he entered the place, he decided it would be too expensive.

And as he fell asleep against the pillow, he felt he would regret it sooner or later.


	16. Friendship part 2

Chapter 15:Friendship (part 2)

AN: Longest. Chapter. Ever. Both in paragraph and length. My brain hurts now. Enjoy please. Read and Review. All that.

It was chill in Wutai that morning. Winter was around the corner, and a few moutains were showing white peaks. Kuro woke to a pale sun and frost bitten plants. He stood up and stretched out his partially sore limbs, mostly from the bruises he got after pulling that stunt in the race. There was no shower, so he was going to have to make do without. He threw on his clothes, and started first for the weapon shop. The breakfast wasn't being served yet, and Kuro had to kill some time before they did. He never really had a weapon, although he liked to think his hands were weapons. He rapped his knuckles on the door once, and they opened up.

"Who is that?" the door slowly creaked open, and a old yet physically fit man met him. "Oh, your the one who won our leader all that money. Good show boy, but im afraid we're not open yet...but in your case, what the hey. I've been kinda bored, and nobody really needs a good peice of iron anymore. So come in! Look around, and hopefully buy something." He waved his arms in a welcoming fashion, and Kuro bowed to him as he entered. "The name is Kuro. I would like to know what you have that would suit me, Mr..." "Please, call me Tang. But not that orange flavored mix stuff, yech. Tastes horrible!" He laughed heartily, and Kuro stared at his maticously well kept weapons.

"Hmm...how about this?" Kuro picked up a rather long katana, and gave it a few swings. "Eh, it doesn't really suit a man of your style. The murasame is not a weapon for a man like you; your more of a broadsword." Kuro noticed a wide blade hanging behind him, and picked it up. "Well its a bit heavy, but it does seem like the kind of blade to cut someone in half with relative ease. Im looking for a weapon that can both do that, and swing and stab in quick moves." Tang ran his hand down his long thin beard. "Indeed, indeed...try that sword, to the left and up two." He picked up the silver rapier. It did indeed seem like an excellent blade, and after swinging it, he felt like it would do better as a pair. But Tang only had one, and he would have to make due. "Sheath and blade, that will be...1,500 Gil." Kuro put up the money, but realized he didn't really have any sort of projectile. His magic variety was lacking, and he needed something more reliable. "Hey Tang, do you sell anything that can shoot?" He let out a hearty chuckle, and led him into the backroom, which was ladened with all sorts of projectiles.

Crossbows, longbows, shortbows, composite bows, matchlocks, pistols, and even a few shotguns. Kuro poured through the amazing array of weapons, trying to see one that would fit his style best. After picking up a pair of Berettas, he spun them around and tried to get a feel for them. "They seem kind of heavy, and pretty small. Is it possible to modify them at all?" But as Kuro said this, he had already pulled up some gun parts. "Feel free to upgrade in whatever way seems best for you." Kuro gave a quick look over the parts, and picked up some parts that were obviously not metal. "Darksteel. Hard as a rock, and durable to boot. Also, its lighter than iron or steel." Kuro smiled as he exchanged the metals on the Berettas, and then he decided to change the color of the pistol grip.

Finally, after slapping on two jet black pistol grips, making them slightly bigger in clip size, and adding an engraving on both the guns, he paid Tang the steep fee of 3000 gil (lucky for Kuro, he got the holsters and clips in the guns for free). "It was nice to meet you Tang, and I thank you for the excellent equipment. Maybe if people see me using them, they might want to purchase your items again." Tang patted Kuro on the back. "Maybe, but then again who needs it? We've got one of those iron hard leaders in our town! I'd regret to be the guy who had to take on Lady Kirasagi." Kuro thanked Tang one more time, and bid him farewell. A light snowfall had started onto the town, turning the brown soil to a bright white.

He jogged back to the Inn; breakfast had long been open, and he ordered himself some bacon and eggs, with a side of rice and a cup of coffee. His thoughts drifted to Yuffie, and he hoped that she wouldn't bet on him like that again; He only won by mere centimeters, and if she did that again, she might lose it. "What the hell am I thinking? Of course she'll bet on me, thinking its a winning streak. Bit dumb, she is." He took a sip of coffee while mulling over his thoughts. If he stayed, she might pull this stunt again. If he left, it'd be another dull race back in the Golden Saucer, time and again. Which one had the bigger risk was his question.

"Im being paid much more than I was at the Golden Saucer. This town is so nice, and the winter isn't too cold as of now. However, Yuffie knows of my skills and may consider that an asset and force me to race more, or her advisors." He took another sip of coffee. "Or she'll just bet badly and get really upset with me. At which point, she may just knock me off, but more likely again her advisors would do it." He finished off his coffee and asked for more. While the man refilled his mug, had a thought. "She's being shielded isn't she? She had no less than 7 men around her, ready to kick ass on several levels. Maybe if I can get her to be a bit more free, then...maybe..." He took the mug from the man and downed the scalding hot contents, and went back to finishing up the last half of his breakfast.

He had an idea; not a great idea, but it was an idea nonetheless. He was told back in the Golden Saucer (not so much told as overheard) that Wutai had a Pagoda, and whoever won all five matches had a free choice of one decision regarding Wutai. If he could win in the Pagoda, he could do one hell of a favor for Yuffie. He didn't know what he would face, nor did he really care. If he lost, he lost, but he had his racing to fall back onto. Now any damage he took while fighting, well he didn't really care about that either. One thing never crossed his mind though.

He stepped out of the town and headed toward a nice open area to work on his fighting skills. He started slow, with simple precise swings, jabs, and slices. He worked on more complex moves, such as moving from an atack to a parry, or doing aerial atacks and spins. He tried to keep his left hand as free as possible, as it was his specialty; he could use it to block or fire off a quick spell to get an edge in. He sheathed his sword, and set up a target. He clicked the safety's off and positioned the pistols sideways ontop of eachother, and aimed.

The shots soared wide. He grumbled, and aimed a little better. He pulled the triggers again, and the shots hit, although it wasn't a great shot. He scratched his head. Kuro tried a new approach, and aimed at them with the guns being vertical instead of horizontal. He pulled the triggers, and the bullets hit side to side next to the dead center. Kuro made a huge grin, and did some more complex shots, from quick shots, to spinning shots, and even shots that had the possibility to do even more damage than normal. He tried aiming in the air, and it wasn't much of an accuracy decrease. But it was a significant ammount of decrease, and Kuro decided it was unwise to shoot airborne.

He reloaded the clips with fresh bullets, slammed them back in, holstered them, and went back to the sword. "Maybe a mix of the gun in one hand and the sword in the other..." he tried that out, and it worked wonderfully. The advantage of being able to jump back and get a shot in as you land isn't a bad strategy, and it'd be one he would use against his opponents. He didn't fire any bullets, but he figured it wouldn't matter if it was a gun or a spell; it would hurt either way. He put his weapons back into their respective holders, and went back to town with a sense of acomplishment.

Yuffie on the other hand, practically fell over when she heard Kuro had come to the pagoda to fight his way to the top. "WHAT? I didn't think he'd come to fight!" She bid the door guard to leave and say he was acceptable for a fighter. "I guess I have no choice. This is much more fun than an arm wrestling bout or a drinking match!" She grinned and hoped that her worthy opponent would survive the first 4 matches. But she had a feeling that he'd let his opponents survive rather than the other way around. She picked up her 4 pointed weapon, and spun it a few times. "Hope your ready for a good fight..."

"Kuro?" The guard had returned to him, and his nose was getting a little cold from being outside for an extended period of time. "You have been accepted by the leader of the Pagodaa. Step inside, and we will begin shortly. I shall fetch your first opponent." He bowed, and stepped away as Kuro entered the low roof but incredibly cozy room. He sat down on a chair and waited a few minutes for someone to come back. He also rubed his nose furiously to warm it up. "I wonder who my opponent will be?" He pictured some huge burly guy with insane muscle size and a big club. But he was partially wrong...well fully wrong, because what came downstairs was a purple demonic looking man with big wings.

"You my first opponent?" The man laughed at him and mockingly said, "No, im the maid. Im here to clean up. The name is Gorkill. I will be the man kicking you around today." Kuro just smirked and shot back, "I've heard that before from people who weren't colored purple and pink. Lets rumble ugly." He had no idea what to expect from this creature, and probably mocking it was not his best idea. But after the creature glowed green and had a blue aura around it, then he started to regret it. "Regen and reflect. God damn it." He dove as the creature dive kicked the ground, creating a loud thud.

He pulled out his rapier and started slashing manically at the beast, hoping that it would prove effective. While he did counter with a series of batting the sword away with his claws, a few blows got in and left deep gashes. Unfortunately, the regen spell healed him up to near perfect condition. And with reflect up, he had no idea how to counter it. "Unless..." he thought. Kuro kept his barrage of swipes up while using his left hand to create the reflect spell over himself. "Hey demon, I wonder if you have anything more pathetic than regen and reflect up your sleeve. Thats right, im talking to you tall dark and stupid." Gorkill regarded him curiously, and laughed. "Someone wants to die early. Ok then, i'll make this end fast. DEMI II!" The spell of darkness rushed at Kuro.

But he walked right into a trap. Gorkill should've spent more time in magic class, as a spell thats been reflected has the ability to peirce another reflect spell due to the magical aura that surrounds the spell. Reflect just makes spells bounce away, but not its own spell. When one spell hits it, it's coated in the power of reflect, and can penetrate the barrier that hinders many a mage. And Gorkill literally didn't even see it coming, laughing stupidly. His eyes were shut as the spell drained half his life, and Kuro rushed in with another full blown assault of sword slashes and kicks. Gorkill was out cold in mere moments, and the Guard declared Kuro the victor.

Kuro proceeded up the staircase, eager for another battle. With an easy opponent like that, the next ones should be a peice of cake. As he took a breather in the corner, the man proceeded to go get his next challenge. "Well his fault was a powerfull ego. Maybe this next opponent will have less of that and more muscle." He once again thought up that huge burly man of death, hoping he would get to fight something like that. But instead, he got the exact opposite rather than nothing at all. His first thought was, "There are penguins here?" But after a closer inspection, he had to kick himself mentally to fight back the laughter that was coarsing through him. "Yea thats right punk, im your next opponent. The name is Shake, and im gonna pound your face in."

Kuro found it hard to belive something that barely went over his Knees would be able to reach his face, but after he saw Shake...well, shake and glow red, his laughter subsided. "RAGE BOMBER!" Shake flew from the ground, and Kuro got a gut full of 127 pound bird. "AGH!" He slammed into a wall, hurt, but far from out. "You little...your lucky I dont roast you and have me some Kentucky Fried Penguin!" He decided to use his pistols, and whipped them out. "Count the shells, bird brain!" He unloaded his guns, but the penguin was faster than he anticipated, and he got another taste of his rage bomber, but this time to his leg. But as he slammed into him, Kuro kept his wits up, and Put his guns directly onto Shake's wings. Kuro pulled the triggers, and he cried out in pain.

"AHHH! MY WINGS! OW! OW!" But when Kuro punted him into the same wall he slammed him into, he was just like Gorkill; out of luck and out of conciousness. "Winner...Kuro. Impressive, you may just make it to the top here. We have not had such a skilled fighter come our way in a long long while." The guard led Kuro up the next flight of stairs, and Kuro instinctively casted a cure spell onto a bruise on his stomach. That bird may not have been imposing, but it was sure as hell a decent fighter. And unlike a fighter, it used it's head. Literally.

Yuffie was told the news by another guard. "Incredible, he's only been down there for a mere seven minutes, and he's defeated Shake and Gorkill!" She contained her smile, and knew that when he finally came up to fight, she would have the advantage. She had enough summons to mop the floor with him, and all sorts of powerfull materia to finish him. It would be a massacre from beginning to end. At least, thats what she thought. She had a few doubts, but she remained confident that she stood a greater chance. If she didn't, she wouldn't be up here on the top now would she? She idly shoved the glowing red and green materia into her weapon, filling in the many slots it had.

"Ow...the cure spell was not a full cure for that. But I wont back down now, That'd be stupid of me. Either way im stupid though...selfish and selfless at the same time, I guess. I never liked the term 'Mutual Gain' anyhow." He smiled as he sat down with his back against the wall, reloading his guns which had been fully emptied at Shake. "Gorkill had a speciality in magic. Shake had his edge in strength and some speed. I wonder what this next guy has...?" He rubed his stomach to ease the pain, and the guard came back as something, Kuro had a hard time describing it right away, followed him down. It looked like a carrot with a bunch of wobbly arms. He was more confused than amused. The thing had several slits along his torso (if you can call it that), and the top one appeared to be eyes.

Kuro just stared blankly at him. He looked at the guard, then at the thing, then back at the guard. "Your kidding." The guard shook his head. But the creature talked, and Kuro had no idea how, since it had no mouth. "Chekov. Next foe. You. Will. Lose." Kuro just shrugged. "Least he kept it short." he thought, and spun his rapier around a few times. "Ready when you are Carrot Octopus." It did not laugh, or make any sort of emotional reaction. But it did open each of it's eyes fully, and Kuro was blinded by a flash. "What good did...that...do..." Kuro felt all of his limbs freeze up. "Huh. Should have seen that coming." He wasn't overly worried; this thing was just as short as Shake, and very very thin. What could it possibly do?

Chekov slowly walked (again, if you can call it that) over to Kuro, and punctured his arm with a tentacle, draining some of his life. "Problem," Was his instant thought. "Your paralyzed, your limbs will hardly move, he's draining your life, and your hands wont move. Maybe if I had a catalyst..." his eyes darted around the room, and to a window. Snow had begun to fall a bit on the town, and a flake or two would fall in though the openings in the window. "If I could get over to that window, then that would simplify this battle." But his limbs were still locked, but he felt them become less numb. "Just getting over there would solve the problem. Pretend like it's still working, and then..." Staniv had stuck his arm again with another tentacle, and drank more blood. "And...NOW!" He lept over Chekov, and rolled over to the window. But before he could regain himself, Kuro was frozen with the palms of his hands facing his opponent. Chekov uttered a low chuckle.

"Nice to see, opponent has life in him. Pity." Another tentacle peirced his arm. Kuro's blood dripped to the ground, staining the floorboards crimson. "Now just for a bit of luck..." A few more snowflakes fell through the window. One landed on his hair, another on his nose. One just missed his hand, and landed on his pool of blood. Chekov began smacking his face in a mocking fashion. "Too easy." But as he turned around, a flake was moved by the wind from him turning around and fell squarely onto Kuro's hand. Before Chekov knew what hit him in the back, a rush of ice had burried him against a wall. The guard pulled Chekov out. "Well another one down. I sure hope this next one is more intimidating. Im getting bored." He looked at Kuro with astonishment for his nonchalant attitude, and led him up the stairs yet again.

"Lets recap, shall we mind? Chekov was a man of the paralyze and absorb arts...Shake liked to..." he steadied himself on a rail; Staniv had drained about a pint of blood, and it was making him a little woozy. Being paralyzed didn't help either. "He liked to use brute force. Gorkill like magic. If I had any guess, the guy at the top would use everything these guys had and more." He rubbed his head and hoped more blood would flow into him before he collapsed. This time, the room had steel reinforced walls. Kuro knew something bad was coming from a mile away. The guard went downstairs this time, and as soon as he was gone, he heard several loud thuds coming from upstairs. He also heard the sound of chains clinking together. "Oh so very not good."

A rather large man entered the room, appearing to be encased in iron. His right arm had a wrecking ball atacked to it, and he dragged it along the floor with a loud scraping noise. He was definately more intimidating than all the other losers downstairs. "Well, it's been a while since i've seen someone so spry! Those three always have a trick up their sleeve they expose, but mine is always out. You should already know what it is. I am Staniv, and I am going to be one of your hardest foes." Kuro never doubted the man, and readied his blade. "Time to think on your feet, genius. It's steel on steel, but he's got the 100 pound steel that really hurts."

Staniv swung right at Kuro, who dodged it just barely with a jump. The ball smashed into a wall, but it bounced back and clipped Kuro right in the arm. He slid backward, and kept up his methood of dodging Staniv till he could figure out a decent enough counter atack to even launch an assault. Either that, or find a weakspot. But that seemed impossible, as the man was fully armored. Even the eyes were sealed up, but they had a criss-cross of metal over them instead of solid steel. "If I could penetrate that...No, better yet!" He grinned as he whipped out his pistols and sucking in his gut to avoid the ball. "Ever get that ringing in your ears?" He mocked as he fired two rounds right at the side of his head. The result was two loud clear clangs, and the helmet vibrated.

"ARGH!" Staniv stumbled back, but he was by no means out yet. His swinging of the wrecking ball became more erratic, and Kuro had to continually move in order to keep out of the path of it. He had succeeded in annoying Staniv, but not weakening him on any grounds. He did a slide between Staniv's legs, and gave a kick right between the legs. A groan came, though it was not from the target. It came from Kuro and his foot. It didn't even move Staniv, let alone injure. "Wuh oh." He slammed his hands down and shoved himself backward, avoiding another smash from the ball. "Theres nothing I can do!" Kuro screamed at himself in his head. "I can't exactly penetrate that armor! The only thing that could get through it is..." Another crazy idea came into his head.

He avoided the wrecking ball even more, and holstered his guns in the process. Then, he leaped ontop of Staniv's head. "What the...GET OFF!" Staniv began moving around wildly, hoping that Kuro would fall off. "Wee, faster!" Kuro provoked him as much as possible. "Grah! Take this!" Staniv swung the wrecking ball above his head and right at him. Kuro was waiting for this, and he did a forward leap ontop the wrecking ball, and shoved it downward as he went over. The result was Staniv flying backward and through the pagoda wall, right into a pile of snow. Kuro looked out from the smashed wall, and Staniv had gotten to his feet, although he was stumbling. "Guess thats another win for me."

The guard had not come down, and Kuro just took the liberty of coming up himself. "Strength, spells, disability, and invulnerability. Incredible line-up. I hope the last person I get to pummel is as fun as all of them combined!" He climbed the stairs in a excited rush, forgetting to heal his bruised arm or reload the slightly used clips in his guns. He made his way to the top, and came into a large open room with many pillars. They had engraved pictures, mainly of dragon's and hero's. But the room was empty, except for the large chair in the middle of the back. "What? Where...is the fifth challenger?"

A shuriken hit the ground in front of his feet. "Huh?" He rolled behind a pillar just as 3 more hit the spot where he stood. "A ninja is my next opponent?" Kuro groaned. He knew it would be an unfair fight, as ninja's had more experience with hiding and stealth, and they had quick atacks. Kuro may have been a half demon, but he was on no means as stealthy or as quick as a ninja. More shurkiens came flying at him, but he countered by deflecting them away with his rapier. "I hate people who hide. Come out and fight me like a noble person!" Again, he knew that ninja's were assassins at heart, and nobility and honor were bullshit to them. But it never hurt to ask.

What responded from the shadows sounded more like a giggle than a response. "Uh..." Kuro spun around and put his blade directly on the throat of Yuffie, who likewise had the point jabbing his Trachea. "Your my oponnent? Who's bright idea was that?" he said, taking caution to not swallow while the blade was directly on his throat. "Mine. How else do you keep from getting bored, huh? It's not fun being a politician or a leader. Now a fighter, thats fun!" She grinned, even with the blade on her neck. "We're at an impass you know." "Well Duh." "One of us could win by killing the other. I dont stand to lose much if I cut your juggular. If you killed me...?" Yuffie cocked her head and had a doubtfull look.

"I like you well enough, Yuffie Kirasagi to not slay you. I know I have not been together with you more than a few hours, but you seem like a decent girl. But I play to win, so that means im still fighting." Yuffie gave another doubtfull look. "Well...I never give up, not even when a demi god was staring down at me with powers beyond reckoning. Even if I were fighting a friend, I wouldn't give up. We're staying in a stalemate till one of us works up the courage to make a move...friend." Kuro smiled. "Gotta love a woman with a bit of daring." He twisted his wrist so the blade would not slit her throat, but go around it and knock her huge four-point shuriken away, and proceeded to jump back.

"Been a while since I had a good fight..." she whispered, and Kuro shared her sentiments. "Going to have to wait longer for any real fight, missy." She laughed, and they charged eachother with weapons at the ready. Steel against steel, the room was alight with sparks caused whenever they clashed, and they used the pillars to fight in mid-air. It seemed to go on endlessly. Yuffie and Kuro were entangled in a dance of death, but nobody was dying. It seemed more like kids playing a fake war on a playground rather than a battle. But even then, they had a few more tricks up their sleeve than that.

Yuffie wasn't idle during the fight. She had been mustering the energy to cast the spell Flare on Kuro, and when she was ready, Kuro had vanished. "Now who's hiding." She said sarcastically, but stupidly, she let her guard down. A blast of sleep hit her in the back of the head, and she fell over. But her guard wasn't fully down, and she grinned as she lept at his concealed spot in the rafters. Kuro didn't know that she had a sleep immunity from the materia in her shuriken, but he hit her with a bolt spell, and in her stunned state, slammed her into the ground. Kuro did something he didn't expect as he slammed her: he winced. The stomach he hit was exposed, and it felt incredibly soft. It was a pity that he had to hurt her like that there.

Yuffie twitched a few times on the ground. That fall had hurt! She stood up, and looked up at Kuro who stared back at her. Then she keeled over, grabbing her stomach. "I cant lose..." The red materia in the topmost slot of her shurkien glowed, and it sent up a huge beam of energy into the roof. It opened a portal, and Bahamut, king of the dragons, flapped his mighty wings downward to slowly decend into the room. Kuro and Bahamut locked eyes, and he didn't know how to react. He was like a god, and he was like a mouse. "Or a rat..." he breathed silently, and remembered something he kept on him that he got from a rumor.

A while ago, some people heard the tale that 4 warriors had entered a cave, and left it looking...different. They had become stonger, more skilled in their own respective talents, and the rumor stated that they took something to Bahamut that gave them his blessing of power. There were many items stated, but the most commonly used one was a Rat Tail. The item was located in a dungeon, and not too long ago Kuro had went down that cave spelunking for some rare items. But he found a bag containing a rat tail, and even if it seemed like a silly rumor, he kept the rat tail in case he met the ultimate dragon himself.

Kuro held up his hand, and said "STOP! You do not want to atack me yet. I have something." Yuffie was dumbfounded. He was talking to the dragon like a superior, and he looked like an insect compared to Bahamut. Kuro pulled out the bag containing the rat tail, and hoped to god this worked. "I have the item to prove my worthiness in your eyes." Bahamuts eyes narrowed on the bag. "STEP CLOSER." Bahamut's voice boomed against the room, and Kuro took another step forward on the rafter. "VERY WELL. I SHALL GRANT YOU THE SPELL OF ULTIMATE POWER." Kuro flashed violently red, and Bahamut dissapeared in a white flash.

Yuffie's jaw dropped 3 inches. Not only did Bahamut fail to reduce Kuro to a smouldering pile of ash, but he gave him a spell to use against her! "WHAT?" Kuro looked down at Yuffie, and grinned. He formed a 'v' with his fingers, and aimed his right hand at her. "G'bye." A wave of immense red energy flew from his hands, the mighty Nuke spell crashing into her and exploding violently, sending the upper half of the room flying away from the pagoda. Yuffie flew out of the room and outside into a pile of snow. Kuro blinked. "Overdid it...son of a..." he hopped down, mentally kicking his own ass, and aimed a well place cure spell at her. The effects were instant, and her burns faded. But most of her body was still bruised, and she was still unconcious.

Upon arriving downstairs, she had been revived, the five combatants stood before him; Gorkill, Shake, Chekov, Staniv, and Yuffie clapped their hands. Gokill took a step forward. "Congradulations, you have succeded in beating all of us." "Against high odds, almost impossible when you got to Yuffie!" "And finding unique ways to beat us..." "Even when it seemed hopeless." Yuffie puffed up her chest and swallowed her pride. "We grant you the one free choice of Wutai."

Kuro smiled, and decided to surprise all of them.

"I want you to be free from the restraining body guards and they shall only be around you whenever they decide that they are absolutely needed beyond a reasonable doubt." All of their jaws dropped. Nobody ever asked for a benefit of them, they were selfish and asked for a ton of gil or a whole bunch of girls. Kuro had just given Yuffie one of the greatest gifts she could have ever asked for; Freedom. Just like when he won the race, Yuffie tackle hugged him.

And Kuro grinned all the while, hugging back. Who knew an old rat tail would grant him such a great friend?


	17. Back To Now

Chapter 16 : Back To Now

Kuro looked up from his cold cup of coffee. He had spent a full ten minutes lost in thought, and the two people in

front of him had engaged in a new conversation. "Kuro doesn't seem to want to go out to Wutai for whatever reasons

that guy has. Are you sure we should be dragging him along? It could be bad." "Rin, we can't leave the guy. You and

me wouldn't be enough at all if we hit a problem." "But...okay you have a point. I think we should ask him..." Kuro felt a surge of gratefulness toward Rin. "I've thought about it. Im going." He downed the cold coffee, slightly more bitter than normal, and stood up and assumed a defiant pose. "I can't worry about the past now. Too much is at risk as it is, and even more than we might know."

Kuro took up a pace. "Something is off. I don't know exactly what, but it's a feeling. The atack on Kalm, and the atacks in the mountains...they might be connected. Maybe the Shadow Demons have a plan of atack, but then again, they've never been too bright." and with a sigh, he sat back down. "I dunno. It's just a thought really. Nothing for proof. " Hikari had his chin in his hand. "You may be right. This could get ugly. Rin, we're going to need more than just us four...five, if this "Kit" person can help." Rin shrugged helplessly. "If anybody I know survived, they haven't tried to contact me. So your out of luck from me. Kuro has contacts...maybe-" "Sorry, my contacts are not all warriors of nobility. Nothing more than a source of information. Hikari, your friend is the best we can come up with at the moment."

They stood up, almost in unison. "Whats our plan?" Rin inquired. "I don't know about you guys, but I need a nap. Thinking when fatigued is impossible. After that, we'll head to Wutai, and meet up with Ace. If we hit a snag, which is highly probable, I'll settle it on my terms. Then, we'll think of our next move. So lets head off to the Inn." They nodded in agreement, and left the small room and went outside. As they went down the steps, Rin slowed down and kept near Kuro. "Whats the matter? What problems did you have in Wutai?" Kuro gave her a helpless look. "I...really do not want to talk about it." Rin returned his look with one of concern. "We cant have you moping around as of now. Please, tell me..." "Well...you know how angry women get when you ditch them on a date?" "Yeah..." "This one got angry enough to put up a bounty on my head. This one has an army of ninjas backing her. This one has an incredible weapon on her. It stopped fang." He held up his katana, which shimmered red in the glow of Cosmo Canyon. He sheathed the sword. "Fang is no ordinary weapon. I may die if I go. You see my hesitation."

While they conversed, Hikari overheard them. _Come on, don't bullshit me Kuro. Your made of tougher stuff than that. What are you REALLY scared about?_ His thoughts stopped as abruptly as he nearly crashed into the Inn door. _I'll think about this with him in private._ He opened the door, and the group stepped inside. The room was empty, save for three

comfortable beds and a nightstand with a candle on it. Kuro just laid himself down on the bed without a word and closed

his eyes. Rin took a few minutes to brush her long hair out, and Hikari went into a trance, legs crossed on his pillow. About an hour later, Hikari opened his eyes. "What scares you, Kuro?"

His back tensed up instantly. _Lucky guess that I was awake._ "What do you mean?" "You don't fear death." "So what?" "Then why are you hesitating about going?" "Uh...you two are going as well. I have two lives to protect." "Never bothered you before." "You're one to talk!" "Touche. But what scares you?" "...I...er...well...um..." Kuro was at a loss. "When did you get so deep?" "When I meditate. But you're dodging the question at hand. What, in this world, scares you?" "Losing something worth fighting for." Hikari took a moment to register this. "Whats worth losing? Your a loner mercenary." Kuro mumbled something. "What was that?" "...luff..." "I can't hear you..." "LOVE." Hikari took another moment. "You still love someone? The one who put up a bounty on your head?" "No...not Yuffie, the ninja from Wutai."

Kuro rolled over and locked eyes with Hikari. "Rin." "Rin? You don't know her, well enough anyway. Why care?" "I...can't explain it. It's a gut feeling. I've never seen such a fair girl. Her hair shimmers, her face is pure, and her personality is cheerful. She never deserved this..." "But you dodge my question." "It might be a selfish reason. I never liked being alone. I've been pained for many years, each seeming longer than an eternity. You know how that feels, being dragged down by guilt." "Yeah, I guess." "I just want to help her out for the time being." He rolled over, and looked at Rin, sleeping peacefully, her chest rising slowly before dropping. "She has a second chance at life. I carry a scar on my heart, one she shouldn't endure. If I can prevent that, most of it, you know damn well that I will."

Hikari smiled. "Don't worry. Between the two of us, we'll prevent her from dying out there. I share your sentiments to Rin, and we both share a scar, although they are not similar. You are right; she does deserve better. But for now, the tasks at hand remain: we need help, and to do that, we need to get past your friend. After that, we got about ten thousand shadow demons to slaughter. We've no time for any sort of regret. This is do or die kinda shit now." Kuro took his eyes off Rin and stared at the grey stone ceiling. "Ha...true. We're out of time as it stands, we don't need to go into the negatives. But..." His thoughts drifted to the clothes he bought Rin, the accidental peek, the train ride, and the laser blast. His arm still hurt a little, but he did it out of detirmenation and caring. _She wont die. Not as long as I draw breath in my body, even if it's battered beyond all healing abilities, I will not fall!_

"I WILL NOT!" he screamed suddenly, and Rin shifted and rolled over, while Hikari just fell out of bed. "Ow...keep it down!" Kuro response was a smirk, and he covered his head with the blankets. Soon, they all fell into a slumber, in one sense or another.

Dawn broke over the hills. Cosmo Canyon glowed as if it was lit on fire by some unseen force. Kuro, Rin, Hapan and Hikari were out of town before anybody woke up, and when a gust of wind kicked up, they were obscured by red dust. When it dissapeared, so had they.


	18. What a demon lusts for

Chapter 17: What a demon lusts for...

It was a bright sunny afternoon, hardly a cloud in the sky. The group had settled in a small section of forest, and had a fire going which was cooking a delicious concotion of rabbit meat, carrots, potatoes, and various herbs lying around. Hapan was sitting down, munching on a carrot, completely content. Kuro was watching the stew, Rin was relaxing under a tree, and Hikari was out hunting more meat. Kuro would never admit it, but he had no idea how to watch the food. So, he just kept stirring, keeping the stew evenly cooked. At least, what he thought would be an even cooking. Eventually, Rin shifted and looked up at Kuro.

"Mmm...smells good." Kuro shrugged. "Well thank Hikari when he gets back. He's the one who got all the delicious ingredients and stuff together. And we still have a problem?" Rin cocked her head, trying to clear it of the smell of juicy rabbit. "Problem? What problem?" Kuro stirred the stew few more times, then set the wooden spoon on top of the iron pot and stood up. "Right, your uneducated. Wutai is located on a remote island, about 21 and three-quarters of a mile northwest. To get there, we need a flight. Rocket Town has flights," he said, ignoring her confused look, "but they're the most expensive thing to come around since the 5 dollar cup of coffee. Hapan can fly..." she grinned, but again Kuro ignored this, "but can only carry two. So, while I hate to entrust my bird to anyone but myself, you and Hikari are airborn." Rin gave a blank stare. "Me and him? Why not me and you? It would make more sense..."

Kuro anticipated this before she even finished. "Only Hikari has the knowledge to gain access to Ace's little hideout." He knelt down, stirred up the stew a few more times, then got back up. "It might be safer anyhow, your less conspicuous. But..." he looked at her with a pained look, "Hapan is what I worry about. Hikari is no chocobo jockey, and your far from it. He may not fly properly with you two, and if that is the case, your both easy to be spotted by Wutai Guards. It's then just a matter of time." Rin sat down. "Well...how fast can Hapan fly?" He thought for a moment, head down,then looked back at her. "Well he can clear the distance well within two hours. Hapan is unable to fly at his best for six hours straight. It would take half a day..." It clicked in his head. "And at that time, it would be dark." Rin finished. "You're getting smart there, missy. If thats the case, it would be the dead of night. Guards get lazy at that time, and you'd be hard pressed to see Hapan at night." Kuro gave the stew one more stir.

Hikari came back, holding two very fresh and very dead rabbits. He took to cleaning them, and looked at Kuro. "Any progress with a plan or something that involves not dying?" Kuro waited untill Hikari had gave him the meat, then he promptly threw it into the pot. "You and Rin take a ride at around 6 P.M. The sun will be setting rapidly by then, and you'll reach the moutains by nightfall. You are to find a safe route into town; I would suggest staying away from the bridges. Send Hapan back, and sooner or later I will be in town." Hikari groaned. "Don't tell me your going to come in with your 'Formation B' plan." For a moment, everything was silent. Then Kuro worked up whatever was in his guts to say, "Formation C, which involves less of my blood pouring and more of theirs." Hikari gave a look of absolute horror. "You can't be serious! Thats too dangerous! You might even put US in danger!" His tirade didn't stop anytime soon. But Kuro just kept his face to the ground. Rin was confused about it all, but she said the right thing at the right time. "Time to eat!"

* * *

After the meal, which was incredibly delicious from the herbs Hikari had scrounged up from places best left unmentioned, Rin sat down next to Kuro. He still looked kind of down. "What are you planing?" He didn't respond or move. "...Well? Hey, im talking to you!" she poked him in the ribs, then started to tickle him. "Come on! Tell me!" 

Finally, he grabbed her hands, and locked eyes with her. She saw that his eyes had a sort of mingled pain, one that held both guilt and sadness, but it also had a hopeless appearance, one that says your stuck doing what you have to do. "Whatever im going to do...don't hate me for. Don't ask what im doing. You'll see...But you might not like it." And even after he said it, Rin hugged him. "You've done so much good for me. Your going to do so much good for others. I couldn't judge you." Likewise, even after what she said, he said something she was not expecting. "I...am not a hero." Hikari stood up and helped Kuro up to his feet. Rin also stood up. "We make our way to the coast. We fly swift. By the next morning, Kuro should rendevous with us in Wutai. It'll be sunset when we take flight and night when Hapan must fly back."

Slowly they made their way through the semi-thick forest, with very few hinderances except for low hanging branches that took a swipe at their face, or rocks that nearly made them fall. Eventually, they came to a less lush area, filled more with rocks than grass. They went more slowly, taking their time to avoid taking a tumble across sharp rocks with a boulder to stop their quick roll. Hapan had no trouble in all of this. He'd either rip off the bare tree branch with his mouth, or glide from boulder to boulder. His feet could hold the surface of the rocks with ease. Finally, at the end of the trip, they came to a beach. The spray of the ocean mist felt good on their faces, and the salty but plesant smell of the ocean welcomed them. Hapan bent down and Hikari hopped onto his back, with Rin carefully getting on.

"Both of you should enjoy the flight. Relax Rin, he'll never let anybody fall off his back. He's the best of the best when it comes to flying. I'll be in Wutai before you." Hikari, who looked like he wanted to knock Kuro out, gave a forced nod, kicked Hapan gently, and they were off. Kuro watched them slowly turn into a small red ball, then a speck on the horizon. The sun slowly set below the horizon, and Kuro did nothing but sit with his back against the cliff wall, and think. "I took your words to heart Rin, believe me I did," Kuro murmured, "But even so...this can cause an exception..." He curled up behind a rock, and started up a fire. "_It was reckless of you to send her with Hikari. So why did you do it?"_

"Oh, it was reckless of me to do it. But you damn well know why." _"No such thing as softening the blow. A blow is a blow, and it'll do damage no matter how soft it is." _"Ergh...just shut up...you and your wretched curse!" _"Heh heh. Your fault. Nobody leaves unmarked after your traumatic event. It just so happens that your 'other side' of you is unlocked. You can't really control me." _"Feh. I'll damn well try. Anyhow, it's still some time before I need you. So just shut up and let me relax in peace." All that replied was the rush of the wind and the splash of the tide. He checked the moon. "Position says that Hapan should be back moments from now." Kuro stroked the fire, and sure enough, a crimson rush flew at him. The chocobo trotted up to him and knelt down, but Kuro smiled and scratched Hapans muscular neck. "No no, take a 10 minute breather. Im in no rush." Hapan sat down, and gave a happy "Kweh" in graditude.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hikari and Rin had holed up in a cave for the night. The fire was made so there was too little smoke to attract attention, so they could rest in peace till morning. But they were restless, and they couldn't sleep even if they were knocked out. Hikari was still grim, and Rin was still confused. "You want to know...what he's planning to do, don't you?" the silence was broken as Hikari turned and looked at her. She stared into the fire, and gave a nod. "You won't like it. Another nod. "Well, afterwards, he's been on two missions with me. The second time, was one I won't forget. We were heading up into the moutains to wipe out a band of monsters, not too far from Dashak. Orcs and goblins mostly..."

* * *

"Hikari! Hurry it up!" Kuro shouted down the slope to Hikari, who was struggling to get over some of the more jagged rocks. "Well excuse me for not having your demon dexterity!" came Hikari's cold reply. "Ah, your fine!" He threw his hand down and helped him get onto the ledge, which was about 70 feet below the top of the cliff. "And keep your voice down. Orc ears are great at hearing." He gave a dismissive wave. "Well maybe if you climbed faster, I would." He then started jumping from rocks that even Hikari could not see, clearing the gap of 70 feet in mere moments. "Oh you rotten little..." Hikari sighed, and started grasping for any rocks that jutted out from the wall.

* * *

"He was more of a showoff then, although he kept to himself still. Probably cause of Yuffie. But we continued on our path." Rin was now paying more attention to Hikari than to the fire, and it started to slowly die down. "The camp was no more than 50, maybe 60 orcs and a few goblins who were scattered from their holes. But they were crafty. They were smart enough to set up an ambush, if any were foolish to atack. We were. Kuro was brave, charging the encampment head on, but that was a mistake for him, and one he would not soon forget." 

"Like the moron that he is, he rushed right into the trap. I held back, knowing that it would be foolish of me to take the trap too. Right as he passed a narrow path leading to the encampment, two orc spears were thrown. One hit him square in the shoulder, and a spray of blood flew. But at that point, he began to go to work with pistol and rapier. I was going to help him, but a pincer atack was planned, and a group of orcs and goblins rushed me. So I was busy, and Kuro was on his own, taking on a huge group. But more spears flew, and more times than not they cut or hit him dead on. Eventually, he fell to one knee." Rin looked aghast with horror. "Now the largest of the smelly orcs came up to him, holding an axe that would make a lumberjack squeal in delight. The axe came up, and off with the orc head. Kuro...had a red glow around him."

"Maybe it was the sense of desperation. Maybe it was the fury of being assaulted. But whatever the case, his instincts kicked in. He turned into a demon; silver fur erupted from his skin, his hair turned into a mane, his claws grew and his clothes ripped and fell. His boots exploded and two large paws were shown. The orcs were not intimidated because he grew in size and looked different, but they should've ran for it. It was incredible, a fury that not even a hurricane could stop. He tore through orcs left and right, black blood cascading down to the ground and on him. The orcs made one final push, a wall of thirty of them with goblins backing them up. But...he used magic. I was surprised that he could still use magic, but he did: the forbidden magic. The nuke spell starts with an orb of fire roughly the size of a watermellon, which then grows to the size of one of those exercise balls you do various things with. When hurled, it explodes and the fire is roughly the strength of the nuclear explosion, except more contained. The one he fired, was no less than ten times the size of the best Nuke spell."

He fell silent, his face showing no emotion. "The 1 mile moutain range was no more than rubble after he fired. When I dug up his body, he wasn't hurt, but scratched and naked. I was surprised; the explosion burnt and cut me a lot more than it did to him. Most likely, he changed during mid-explosion. It was a long walk, but luckily we had some camping gear, so he was covered with a blanket when I got him home. He was out for 3 days, and incredibly hungry afterward. From what I could guess, I think that his childhood unlocked a dangerous side to him. One that unleashes when he feels helpless" Hikari took a more relaxed pose, but his face still showed nothing. "You know, he's told me alot about demons, half and otherwise. When threatened, they transform into a power unlike any other. I reiterate, that his was desperation. He also told me something less interesting. Aparently, there are three things a demoncommonly lusts for. Power, that goes without saying. Pleasure, from sex or death. Or chaos, and that one is self-explanitory. Kuro, however...he doesn't have those lusts. He has but one." Rin looked up, a very curious expression dawning over her face. "What?"

The grim faced Hikari smiled. "He lusts...for a reason to live. Simply put, a purpose. You could be it."

end part 1

Author Notes: And it comes full circle now. I don't know if anybody is reading this still, let alone at all, but hey, im still enjoying this story. Stay tuned for Part 2...


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